August, 2016

comiXology summary:
Starman #33. Solomon Grundy lies dying and now Jack Knight, Batman, Sentinel, and the Floronic Man must band together to save the reformed criminal. However, to save the pale giant, they must face past incarnations of Grundy, all of which are evil to the core.

Okay story time RE: Starman #33:

It’s probably about 1997. Starman is one of my two favorite comic books that come out every month (along with Preacher; and they typically come out the same day). Haven’t heard of Starman? I’m not particularly surprised. Jack Knight is the son of Golden Age hero [also] Starman, and Starman is the story of Jack taking up the superhero business after his brother David (interim Starman between daddy and Jack) is killed. Jack doesn’t really want to be a superhero. He runs a second-hand shop and mostly gets tattoos. To give you an idea about a typical story, at one point his second-hand shop is attacked by a maniacal villain-to-be as Jack unwittingly has a Hawaiian shirt that is a magical teleportation portal in inventory.

The battle is resolved by, um, Jack selling the would-be villain the shirt.

Starman was offbeat and heartwarming. Sure there was violence, sacrifice, murder, and even galaxy-spanning space adventure, but it was a largely a comic book of small stories, albeit perfectly executed by James Robinson (who would later execute Sean Connery’s movie career as the screenwriter for LXG) and Tony Harris (Harris would later become my favorite active comic book artist). Today’s Starman #33 cover is of course by Harris.

So here’s the story:

In the mid-1990s comics were in a very different spot than they are today, fueled as they are by billion dollar blockbuster films coming out of Marvel Studios. The entire industry was coming down off of the 1992 bubble boom driven by the breaking of the Bat, the Death of Superman, and infinite chromium variant covers coming out of Image and Valiant. The nostalgia wave would not hit for another five years, and Iron-Man for another maybe eight after that. Comics for comics sake were in a precarious position, and telling small — if great — stories about a second-hand store salesman and his ex-superhero pops needed *ahem* some sales if they wanted to stay buoyed at studio like DC.

How do you bolster sales?

Look at that g-d cover.

Notice anyone standing behind ole tattoo’d Jack?

Starman #33 sold out basically everywhere.

That’s great, right?

Um… The average comic book store ordered like two copies of Starman every month. Some people — like yours truly — were the avid and loyal readers of this aforementioned title Starman. And these Batman fans bought up all our copies!

Even my friend Brian K. Vaughan — who had never read Starman once in his life — bought a copy of #33 (which I’m guessing even twenty years later he never even read). “What can I say? I buy any book with Batman on it.”

It took me maybe four months to hunt down a copy of Starman #33 to even out my collection. This was super shitty because the next issue was the beginning of a new story arc; also because Batman — who had been written as maximally grumpy while visiting Opal City — finally cracked a smile and revealed his favorite Woody Allen movie (Crimes and Misdemeanors, natch).

So if the definition of great comics cover is to sell more comic books — especially by attracting readers who wouldn’t normally pick up your title — there is no better exemplar than Starman #33.

LOVE
MIKE

Daily BB House Stats:
HOH – Victor
HOH Nominated – Corey, Paulie
Veto Winner – TBD
Evicted – #1 Jozea #2 Victor #3 Bronte #4 Tiffany #5 Frank #6 Da’vonne #7 Zakiyah #8 Bridgette
Battle Back Winner – Victor
Return Ticket Holder – TBD
Have-Nots – TBD
Have-Not Supplement – TBD

The August 12th feeds were a festival of aftermath in many forms. It all began with Nicole winning the safety care package from America. This is unsurprising to Fetchland because most viewers of Big Brother are of the normal and un-obsessed variety. They just know she’s cute as a button and that’s certainly true, especially if you just watch the TV show. We’re disappointed in Nicole, though because she was given a choice between a unicorn costume and the one she’s wearing. It’s baffling to us that she’d choose THIS over a unicorn. Newsflash, Nicole, unicorns are the bomb. They’re magical mythological creatures that represent purity and strength. OK, we’ll calm down in a bit…

Speaking of calming down, after Victor nominated Paulie and Corey there was a long awkward kitchen silence before Paulie came at Victor hardcore. Corey played eye darts wth himself while listening at the the table in his Christmas hat. Meanwhile Paulie just played fight fight fight. Victor wasn’t playin, though. He pointed out that Paulie put him out of the house. Period. I can forgive but I can’t forget. I went out that door. I talked to Julie. He ended the conversation after pointing out that he didn’t attack when Paulie put him up. Oh snap. They’re talking but we’re busy bein’ lost in your eyes, Victor. Thanks for snatching that hero archetype out of Paulie’s mitts. We appreciate your balls. In the meantime perhaps Paulie can cool his jets sometime soon.

Paul confronted Paulie about how he acted like he didn’t trust him after Zakiyah left. It is a super duper smartypants strategy to come after Paulie at this point. It’s psychological warfare in there and Paulie even starts crying during their convo. Paul gets him at a weak moment and makes him feel guilty. This is a solid game tactic. If Paul hadn’t taken this stance, Paulie would have confronted him hardcore. But now he doesn’t have to defend himself, Paulie does, once he gets a grip on his tears. It’s brutal magic. Remember, Paul plays chess. Natalie also waves her magic cheerleader wand, inviting Nicole to join the girls for a post-nomination conversation. She does the EXACT same thing Paul did with Paulie. It’s always bothered Natalie that Nicole has been consistently cold to her. Natalie’s main goal is to befriend everyone in the house. She tells Nicole now, who’s in a weak Corey-on-the-block emotional state. Nat she’s always wanted to be Nicole’s friend and it’s bothered her that Nicole wasn’t friendly back. It works like a charm. Nicole apologizes to Natalie. Glitter blasts out of the walls in a glorious confection, pink balloons and streamers fall from the ceiling, (in our imagination) and all was well. In actuality, all that happens is the apology

It’ll be an interesting week ahead as Paulie and Corey play Veto and campaign. Going forward Michelle already offered to and will likely be the pawn that goes up next to Paulie or Corey if the other one wins the Veto or gets pulled off by another Veto winner (would have to be Nicole). It’s likely Michelle will stay no matter what, thus solidifying Meech as the houseguest who goes up on the block over and over and over but doesn’t go home. She’s also becoming the houseguest who blows sh** up by speaking her mind and we love that too. Paulie is perpetually on edge around her. It’s fun when the player who keeps avoiding eviction even though they always seem to be on the block gets mad emotional all the time, so we’re enjoying this season. Roles are reversing, emotions are flowing and now everyone (except James) is playing the game. We’re having fun!

– Katherine Recap

Daily BB House Stats:
1st eviction Stats for August 11th
HOH – Corey
HOH Nominated – Michelle, Bridgette
Veto Winner – Corey
Evicted – #1 Jozea #2 Victor #3 Bronte #4 Tiffany #5 Frank #6 Da’vonne #7 Zakiyah

Daily BB House Stats:

HOH – Victor
HOH Nominated – TBD
Veto Winner – TBD
Evicted – #1 Jozea #2 Victor #3 Bronte #4 Tiffany #5 Frank #6 Da’vonne #7 Zakiyah #8 Bridgette
Battle Back Winner – Victor
Return Ticket Holder – TBD
Have-Nots – TBD
Have-Not Supplement – TBD

The double eviction show of August 11th show felt like the same rollercoaster whiplash thrill ride it does in every season of Big Brother. The episode begins with a quick recap (not enough) of this week’s drama and secretive shenanigans trying to blindside Paulie by evicting Zakiyah. The awesome (but also sad) part is that it ends up actually working. Zakiyah is quickly evicted and quite sad, tearing up in her Julie interview. Then, because Zak doesn’t have the return ticket, she’s off to the jury house. It’s heartbreaking to see her go and feel like a fool who got played but Paulie’s flabbergasted face serves as a soothing salve on this sick BB burn.

In the first HOH comp of August 11th “Statcathalon” (it’s a mental one using BB18 house stats) Corey wins on the second question with the greatest of ease. He nominates Michelle and Bridgette. The Veto competition that follows involves frantic ball pit searching for clock discs. Corey wins AGAIN and makes it look pretty damn breezy. He does a brief consult with Paulie and Nicole about what to do off to the side before they rejoin the group on the couches for the Veto Ceremony. Corey leaves the noms as they are.

Meech, it turns out, ran off during this tiny interim between the cop and the ceremony to put on a delightful blue dress and lipstuff. It’s a mad impressive transformation within the brief time frame. Michelle’s goodbye speech calls out Nicole as a snake and seems to offer herself as a sacrificial lamb, assuming eviction. Meech says she’s ready to go because she got to blow up Paulie’s game and that was all she wanted anyway. Then Bridgette gets evicted with Natalie the singular vote to keep Michelle in the house. Right away Meech starts bawling like crazy. Her histrionics are hilarious because it’s evident she has no control over them as Michelle calls out, “I love you as a person and I’m so glad I got to know you,” while weeping hysterically as Bridgette calmly leaves the house with a smile. Sitting with Julie, Bridgette also has the one way ticket and this she’s off to the jury house. It’s a real shock to both her and Michelle that she’s been evicted.

The feeds come back up to the houseguests in damage control mode before the next HOH competition. Nobody says what they really mean. Everybody’s apologizing. It’s tense AF. There’s a disturbing trend for a bit during this perios when certain houseguests slam Zakiyah in her absence, which we’d prefer to pretend never happened and erase from the Internet forever. Zakiyah was a lovely person inside and out who got PLAYED personally and by the game. It’s sickening to us that anyone would be compelled to exploit her even after she’s out of the house. Bad enough that it happened to her while she was in the house.

There’s a brief respite from feeds in the evening while they play the next HOH competition and when they return Victor won yet another HOH. At this stage of the game Victor realizes (with Paulie in a floaty’s help) that Paulie and Corey need to go up on the block. He convenes with James and Natalie as well so that they can all agree on the plan. Victor shows his smarts in the conversation. He points out that even though they have the numbers and will all play in the Veto the only factor they can’t count on is the next care package. It could screw up their plan, he knows. At one point Victor’s forced to listen to Paulie drone on about how Natalie “deserves to be on the block every week” and then you can actually see a light go on in Victor’s head like I’m HOH, I don’t have to sit here and listen to this so, he gets up and leaves Paulie alone.

Afterward Paulie talks to Corey and is now obsessed with getting out James and Natalie as revenge for getting Zakiyah out behind his back. But, Paulie, we’re so confused. Didn’t you say you don’t play with emotion? But you’re going to leave Victor and Paul, who also voted to evict Z and are much bigger threats, in the house… where’s the logic in that, oh mighty king of logic? It’s not as if you owe Victor and Paul anything now. They played the same hand James did. So, why choose to go after ‘lil James and Nat while those two beast bros are still stompin’ around the BB house? We believe emotion might play a role, since you said it was “for revenge” and still seem pretty darn pissy. Funny thing is that it doesn’t matter because Paulie has no power now. In fact, he’s about to go right back up on the block next to Corey. We can’t wait.

– Katherine Recap

Daily BB House Stats:
HOH – Victor
HOH Nominated – Michelle, Zakiyah
Veto Winner – Paulie
Evicted – #1 Jozea #2 Victor #3 Bronte #4 Tiffany #5 Frank #6 Da’vonne
Battle Back Winner – Victor
Return Ticket Holder – TBD
Have-Nots – Bridgette, Corey, James
Have-Not Supplement – Hash browns and corned beef

The show begins with Meech’s breakdown after the nomination ceremony. Then, for contrast, we see the “executives” laughing and dancing, jumping off the beds, etc. in celebration. Then Michelle calls out the true executive, “I’m not the one who put him up on the block and backdoored him,” eyeball shot to Paulie. He then talks to Zakiyah alone and acts mega shady when she asks if he’d take her off the block with the Veto. Z says she doesn’t trust Paulie. Meanwhile Paul and Victor are in HOH saying they think Zak really needs to go this week. She’s too comfy.

After this we see the beginning of the end of PeePee paradise when Paul and Paulie disagree about who should go. We already knew this was happening. There’s further validation when Paulie tells us in DR that he’s going to do what’s good for HIS game alone. No shame in that, it’s BB, bro. Thing is, Paulie’s playing SO hard, people are noticing.

In the next scene Paulie tells James that whoever “we choose” to use the care package… blah blah blah. Um, it’s James who picks, Paulie, and he noticed that “we” for certain. In the process of the Veto competition we understand why it took such a long time. It’s the hide and seek competition that takes forever and ever. The houseguests each hide a Veto card in the house and take turns looking for them. The card that remains hidden belongs to the houseguest who wins the Veto. When Paulie wins he claims to not be certain what to do but makes it clear his decision has to be whatever will benefit his game most.

Truth is, he doesn’t actually make the choice that’s best for his game. In one way he goes with his penis rather than his posse. But really, he makes two bad choices. One is deciding to fight to keep Zakiyah, which bites him in the butt later, as we know. But Paulie also manages to piss Zakiyah off when he informs her that he’s not going to take her off the block. He says the goal is to get Michelle evicted regardless as if that’s going to be some sort of consolation. It’s not. So, he’s managed to make everybody mad at him while looking out only for himself. Not a surprise then that the last thing we hear him say on the evening feeds of August 10th is, “Why is all this aggression focused on me?”

Speaking of Paulie on the August 10th feeds, he’s BONED. Still smug and with his eyes closed. He spent the evening with a tomato-red face and, “never cared” coming out of his mouth but every other word indicating otherwise. In the end he tells Natalie that she’s “as fake as those things on her chest,” and huff and puffs at Michelle when she calls him out too.

At 4:18AM Michelle tells him she was going to blow up his game tomorrow but he already did it for her. Paulie unravels even further in response, calling her “trash” and his attempts to laugh it off keep failing as he yells through walls at laughing and taunting Michelle. No matter what he says, she dishes it right back twofold. He’s in the Toyko room and she’s in the London room each with people near them laughing so hard they just may pee their pants. James says, “Just be careful you don’t talk about his haircut because he doesn’t like that,” and the laughs in the London room just keep rolling.

It all began coming at Paulie because Natalie told Z all about her Paulie opinions at around 6:30PM. There’s ongoing Twitter debate about whether Z believes Natalie or Paulie and if she’s a sucker for him/in love with him. We at Fetchland think she’s just doing what she has to with him because she’s kinda “stuck” in this showmance for now. It seems like she heard Natalie’s advice loud and clear. Yes, she did retell stuff to Paulie and Nicole before spending the rest of the night with Paulie. But maybe Zakiyah just didn’t want to mess with the fact that she’s on the block right now and tomorrow’s eviction night. Paulie’s the “hero archetype” for her right now – remember? Check out Zak’s eyeroll as Paulie “talks some sense” into her – it’s our featured photo of the day above. In contrast, Zakiyah says to Natalie,- “You knocked a lot of sense into me earlier today,” before giving her a big hug. Maybe it’s all lies and Z is just a beautiful bot or an amazing actress. Either way, we’re thoroughly entertained.

August 10th’s truly a feeds carnival ride. You can basically watch from 6:30PM until 6:30AM and stay riveted every single second. Golden glory and joy with a tomato-faced blowhard to boot. That’s entertainment! Thursday night is the live and double eviction so get ready to strap yourself in for some more shock, tears, and all-around excitement.We’ll be back with a fresh recap of everything for you along with our ongoing twitter feed @RuiningBB18.

– Katherine Recap

Daily BB House Stats:
HOH – Victor
HOH Nominated – Michelle, Zakiyah
Veto Winner – Paulie
Evicted – #1 Jozea #2 Victor #3 Bronte #4 Tiffany #5 Frank #6 Da’vonne
Battle Back Winner – Victor
Return Ticket Holder – TBD
Have-Nots – Bridgette, Corey, James
Have-Not Supplement – Hash browns and corned beef

August 9th was a glorious day on the Big Brother feeds. After a yawn of an afternoon with Paul still attempting to make the pelican floaty look “happen” he finally gives up at about 8PM BB time. Then it turns out somebody deflated it but nobody will admit to doing the deed. Speaking of floating blowup toys, Looks like Paulie might finally get popped with some reality. Michelle, Natalie, and Bridgette start yappin’ it up major big time and gettin’ real. They work on James hardcore and bring him around to their point of view – FINALLY. Then Paul also gets a good serving of “Spy Girl” strategy more than a few times and finally finally finally… it starts to work in the wee hours of the morning BB time in the London Room. Sleep tight Pee Pee! We’re here to officially proclaim that Paulie’s biggest mistake in BB18 was sleeping all day on August 9th. He’s BONED.

His second biggest mistake? Underestimating Natalie. He slammed her behind her back saying she’s phony and “always gives pageant answers,” thus enflaming the wrath of Nat Nat. Turns out after all that the blood of her enemies is Nat’s favorite snack – not chips. After a long evening of exposing all of Paulie’s strategy, secrets, and lies, it all finally hits maximum conflagration. The blow out is actually gonna happen! Paulie is goin’ down. The tipping point is likely the moment when Natalie turned James around 6:30AM in the storage room. She pointed out to him how Paulie pits the singles and couples against each other. This leaves him swinging free in the middle with no blood on his hands. James finally sees reason after she explains it a few times (haha). Bridgette comes in to help Natalie get through to James. In the end James says if they can get Victor on board with keeping Michelle this week, he’ll go for it. He’s ready.

Later on (8AM, folks) Natalie, Michelle, and Paul talk truth in their trio of London room beds. It all comes out about Paulie. He really thinks only of himself, they all agree. Paul realizes he’s truly getting “boned” being with Paulie. In fact, when Paul thinks that James will be the hardest nut to crack to get Michelle out, he has the idea that the three of them have to talk to Victor all at once so he can see the numbers are there for him to use the nix votes care package deal strategically. “If just one of us talks to Victor, he’ll run right to Paulie with the info,” Paul says. This is pure and unfiltered glorious MUSIC to our ears. That Paul’s thinking this way shows he actually means this whole conversation with Natalie and Michelle. In fact, though, Victor will easily come on board. The hard one to convince was James and Natalie converted him so well that he was the one to suggest they call Paulie out in front of everyone. James is playing the game now! Yay.

Natalie stays super amazing and sweet throughout all of it, telling Michelle how proud she is for how she’s been handling being on the block since the Veto ceremony. Nat also decides to carry the weight of “blowing the house up,” she’s actually flipping the whole frigging house. The plan involves convincing Victor to get on board with them for the double eviction plan to get Paulie out. This, of course will come after they flip the votes and evict Zakiyah. Natalie speaks the most truth and even talks about how James (sleeping) is the biggest floater of all. You gotta love that girl! Her eyes are wide open.

Another lovely aspect of the whole turn of events is how Paul stays pretty humble and realizes he looks like a Dbag for how he latched onto Paulie. Paul admits it’s a losing proposition. But he says it in Paulspeak, “I’m boned,” and everyone just nods in agreement before saying they too are boned in the current situation anyway. Meanwhile Natalie has the most balls of all. She’s ready to rock the house and take over – no holding back. Michelle even says, “Sometimes it takes an outsider,” about Natalie and says she’s outplaying everybody. Natalie responds that she’s just so proud of Michelle and how she’s being strong through all this. Neither of them are scared of anything anymore. Both know they could go home right away anyway. That “Power of Now” guy, Eckhart Tolle once said, “Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to ‘die before you die’ — and find that there is no death”. This cuts to the heart of what’s happening right now in the Big Brother house. Natalie, Bridgette, and Michelle have nothing to lose at this point. They know the taste of BB death well – the metallic flavor of blood in their mouths. These are the people to most fear in any game, the ones with nothing to lose by playing hardcore. It’s wartime, baby.

We’ll be watching Natalie with poms poms in the air today and tomorrow. Natalie’s ready to confront Zakiyah and start the ball rolling. It’s all happening, guys. Trumpets are blaring and we can’t wait to hear Natalie’s battle cry shatter the BB walls. Stay tuned to Fetchland.com for the latest and our twitter @RuiningBB18. Our eyes will be locked on the BB feeds and reporting back to you. It’ll be a fun ride the next few days; that’s for sure!

– Katherine Recap

Daily BB House Stats:
HOH – Victor
HOH Nominated – Michelle, Zakiyah
Veto Winner – Paulie
Evicted – #1 Jozea #2 Victor #3 Bronte #4 Tiffany #5 Frank #6 Da’vonne
Battle Back Winner – Victor
Return Ticket Holder – TBD
Have-Nots – Bridgette, Corey, James
Have-Not Supplement – Hash browns and corned beef

After the Veto ceremony of August 8th, in which Paulie declines to use the power to save anyone from the block, the campaigning begins full speed ahead. Michelle chats with Paul about how Paulie seems sketch. He, of course, then runs upstairs to tell Paulie every single word she said. After clearing his throat forty seven thousand times, Paulie advises Paul to “fuck info out of Michelle” from now on. Ahem. …Meanwhile in the London room Zakiyah abruptly asks Bridgette if she has her vote. But Bridgette doesn’t really answer and instead says she’s going to see where the house sits. At least Bridgette’s honest about it. Michelle continues to campaign outside. For some reason she implements an off-putting strategy with Corey and tells him that he never really does anything in the house. He doesn’t talk game with anybody and never really wins comps either, she points out. Maybe Meech’s just filterless free stylin’ now because she feels she has nothing to lose. It seems like Michelle really believes she’s going home, despite her ardent campaigning.

Some fun spy girl stuff happens with Bridgette, who decides to remain a spy – feeding the feedsters spoonfuls of hope across the nation. She goes into the Have-Not room solo and talks to the feeds, telling us that she doesn’t trust Paulie. Then later in the backyard Bridgette sits with.Corey and tells him she trusts Paulie, thus releasing lots of intel from him about what’s going on outside her BB jurisdiction. In case you were wondering about the boundaries of Bridgette’s jurisdiction, they’re mainly between the oven and the fridge with an occasional trip to the storage room permitted just for sugar and flour transmission. Later in the backyard, though, it’s evident from all the ass-kissing and giggles that Bridgette has suddenly transformed to the hottest ticket in town. Everybody wants her vote and to exploit her spying technique. She’s also looking pretty gorgeous these days.

Later on in the bumper cars for nap time, James and Corey trade stories and plot game moves. Corey’s darting eyes are remarkable in their swiftness. Somebody must have plugged him in and started his gears because the guy’s finally scheming. What becomes evident later, a bit after eight at night is that Corey and James are paired off versus Paul and Victor now. The seeds for this opposition were planted by Paulie, of course, and it’s a great tactic to situate yourself right in the middle of two opposing pairs. But before we get too proud of Paulie for his machinations, let’s refer to his later antics of the evening. Here at Fetchland we’re the first to admit that nothing is ever 100% certain when it comes to watching people on camera. But one great thing about the Big Brother live feeds is that you can “flashback” to any time in the BB house. All you need to know is the time and date that an incident happened. Then you can look and see for yourself. So, at about 8:55PM BB time on August 8th, Paulie gets into the hot tub in his boxer briefs and merely seconds later the hot tub water turns yellow around him. This is while he’s talking with Paul, who’s nearby on the fake grass and doesn’t notice. Later Paul gets in that hot tub and thus the PeePee alliance is officially sealed. Let’s put any judgements (or even rationale) we may have about this aside and just look at the act for its symbolism. It could be seen as a territorial move – a canine type thing. Dogs pee on things to mark their territory. Or, one could see this as Paulie peeing on the other houseguests – a superiority type thing. Bottom line, though, is that no matter what it means, Paulie knows his fellow houseguests will all stand in that same water at some point and be soaking in his pee.

– Katherine Recap

Daily BB House Stats:
HOH – Victor
HOH Nominated – Michelle, Zakiyah
Veto Winner – Paulie
Evicted – #1 Jozea #2 Victor #3 Bronte #4 Tiffany #5 Frank #6 Da’vonne
Battle Back Winner – Victor
Return Ticket Holder – TBD
Have-Nots – Bridgette, Corey, James
Have-Not Supplement – Hash browns and corned beef

The August 7th TV show starts with the “Harsh Hashtag” HOH competition. One thing we learn after the competition on the feeds is Victor’s insightful tactic for winning. It’s evident when you watch it on the TV show that he figures out how to stabilize his center of gravity and not spin; exactly what he explained to the other houseguests later. Poor Natalie spins like crazy and eventually gets off when she realizes Victor isn’t dropping no matter what. Later on August 7th night-time feeds Natalie tells James she held on for so long to “scare people” so they realize she’s a competitor.

Meanwhile Z gets understandably upset with Paulie because she feels set up by him with the Da’vonne blindside. Then he adds fuel to the fire by dropping off the HOH comp right after her. It as if Paulie was waiting for her to drop – which he was BTW. He admitted so in the Diary Room. Speaking of DRs, Michelle’s post HOH one is hilarious when she says about James, “America’s favorite, my ass,” which wins her the Fetchland award for best Diary Room of the episode. Congratulations, #VomitCryBaby! You’re the big winner.

Next we see Victor’s bravado at play when he talks about how excited he is to be “competition best bros” with PeePee. Afterward in the Diary Room, Paul points out the “PeePee prevails,” no matter how much Victor wants to be a trio which we already knew but it’s good to have certainty about it and that’s what we love about the Diary Room sessions. It’s a place to get the alleged “truth” except from people like Paulie who seem a bit unaware of the actual truth at times. Then James has a “chatbattle” with Michelle about why she’s cranky toward him and the house. After this the guys come to a strange conclusion – that Michelle’s just too darn emotional for the house. It’s as if any tiny expression of emotion is forbidden in there now. This is also a key moment in the game because it’s where the battles between Paul and Paulie begin over whether Zakiyah or Michelle should go.

Then America’s next care package comes and James gets the goods. Unfortunately, we know that behind the scenes he chooses to throw it in the garbage. James also tells us the power makes him nervous… oh you poor poor thing James. We’re REALLY sorry we gave you such a tremendous burden. Funny thing is that on the August 7th evening feeds we find out that Paulie already asked James to use the power on him and Paul to eliminate their votes. This takes the “blood off their hands” when it comes to the eviction. So, James may not have a choice to stay neutral on this after all. He may be forced to actually make a decisions and choose between people. Yay!

Victor’s weird nomination speech makes very little sense after he says he put Z and Michelle on the block because they voted to evict him… and honestly that part isn’t really logical either. Seven others also voted to evict him! Bt his speech gets much worse and Victor sounds like an immature weenie who’s mad at Zakiyah for giving affection to Paulie and no attention to him. Then he’s uber nasty to Michelle before throwing beads at both of them. His comments are unnecessarily obtuse and mean with absolutely zero regard for his future jury votes. On the other hand, that red HOH robe looks fantastic on Victor.

On the August 7th evening feeds we see Corey and James have an interesting convo in the Have-Not room. They both realize that Paulie wants James to X out his vote so that he doesn’t have to own responsibility for it. Corey says, “All Paulie wants is to keep it the same so he doesn’t piss Paul and Vic off, then not to vote so it falls on me and you,” and he’s right. Corey’s playing Big Brother, guys. It’s a Christmas miracle! James and Corey decide they should X out two other votes instead. They agree evicting Michelle is the smart move and wonder why Victor and Paul are so set on getting rid of Zakiyah.

What Corey and James don’t understand is that both Vic and Paul want to be Paulie’s “Hand of the King” and Zakiyah is gettin’ in the way. Paulie’s the Alpha male and if Paul and Vic can’t be Alpha they sure as hell wanna be Beta. Funny thing is that James and Corey speculate that it’s because Paul and Victor are actually “closer than they pretend to be” implying they have a secret final two deal. Corey also speculates that maybe Paul and Vic will try to bring Bridgette and Michelle into their secret “team” and make a strong foursome to fight the showmance side of the house. It would actually be genius if they did…

Later in the evening Natalie tells James, “You’re all 3 trying to play Derrick’s game. I can see it. But you’re more of a floater,” talking about Paulie, James, and Nicole. She suggests that they (James and herself) form an alliance with Bridgette – just the three of them. James will always be her number one, Natalie says, but they could definitely use Bridgette to help them get to the end. But James isn’t honest with Nat in this conversation. He doesn’t tell her about the  Executives alliance even though she asks him directly if he’s in a guys alliance. We’re still pulling for Natalie to somehow make it to the end of this game. Too bad she can’t get another care package..She’ll just have to fight fight fight! Go Natalie!.

– Katherine Recap

Daily BB House Stats:
HOH – Victor
HOH Nominated – Michelle, Zakiyah
Veto Winner – Paulie
Evicted – #1 Jozea #2 Victor #3 Bronte #4 Tiffany #5 Frank #6 Da’vonne
Battle Back Winner – Victor
Return Ticket Holder – TBD
Have-Nots – Bridgette, Corey, James
Have-Not Supplement – Hash browns and corned beef

The August 6th feeds bring us the Veto player pick and competition. So, the feeds were often blocked from feedsters with these TV-only events; seven and a half hours to be precise. The Veto players are Victor (as HOH), Zak, Meech, James, Paulie, and Nicole. So, the way things stand before the Veto challenge, unless Michelle wins the Veto herself it’s unlikely she’ll get pulled off the block. Zakiyah is another (more dramatic) story. Thing is, the houseguests lie to Zakiyah, especially Nicole and Paulie, saying they have her back. In fact, they only have their own backs, as is the usual case in Big Brother. There’s an ironic moment after the Veto when Michelle “interviews” Z and asks her the hardest part of Big Brother. Zakiyah says into a hairbrush that it’s “knowing who to trust,” and boy she’s right on the mark with that one. Yes, it’s part of the game, of course, but the outright lies  to Z aren’t really necessary at this point. They could just say they don’t know yet in a gentle way and avoid being an actual liar until it’s completely necessary. But neither Nicole or Paulie seem to consider their jury stakes yet… maybe because they hope to have James cancel out their votes. Dare to dream, guys. We’ll see what the house wants.

In a pretty dumbass turn of events, Paulie wins the Veto. The Veto challenge is a trash-the-house hide and seek type thing. This works out for the best overall because afterward the ladies wear really cute fifties-style bathing suits and everyone has to clean up the leftover disaster zone. Thus the house ends up much cleaner than it was before. It’s a win-win, except for the one guy who actually won the Veto. Paulie now has to either piss off Paul and Victor by taking Zak off the block or piss off Zakiyah by not doing so. At least that’s what we’re hoping. We like drama.

Another hope we currently cherish is that the houseguests will notice Paulie’s running the house and winning everything. Are they in BB to win it? Because if so they need to start shooting at worthy targets – AKA Paulie. Competitions aren’t the only way to win Big Brother. Seed bombs can be planted. Whispers can ignite ferocious battles. The whole battle can be won off the battlefield if you’re strategic enough. Paulie’s got this thing in the bag if things continue on this same loop. He spends the rest of August 6th telling everyone but Zakiyah that he’s going to leave things as they are and not use the Veto. At one point he tells Nicole he’s going to need her to help “manage Z” after the veto ceremony cause she’s going to freak out. So, apparently Paulie’s mistaken the BB house for the douchebag house. But we already kinda knew that. Right? Even if he’s lying to everyone and intends to use the Veto on her, it’s a dick move to talk this way about his cuddle buddy, Zak.

Meanwhile Bridgette’s getting a lot of information these days because her knee injury has made her seem “weak” even though her brain functions fully still. It’s funny because everyone knows the challenges get more and more mental as the summer passes. Yet Victor tells her everything and now even Paulie pulls her aside for “truth-telling” too. Bridgette knows about the plan to evict Zakiyah this week and talks with Natalie about how it seems stupid for Paulie to win the Veto with this particular plan in the works. Yes, it does, ladies. Keep using those noggins. Also, we love Bridgette’s song about how much she hates everyone. It’s music to our ears because it gives us hope that she’ll actually take down some worthy targets in the near future. Truth is, in the current state of this BB season, we wanna see either Natalie or Bridgette win this whole shebang and put PeePee into a permanent state of RIP.

Why we love Natalie She says things like, “I’m in an all girls alliance with me, myself, and I. I’m gonna take all these guys out by myself.”

– Katherine Recap

Daily BB House Stats:
HOH – Victor
HOH Nominated – Michelle, Zakiyah
Veto Winner – TBD
Evicted – #1 Jozea #2 Victor #3 Bronte #4 Tiffany #5 Frank #6 Da’vonne
Battle Back Winner – Victor
Return Ticket Holder – TBD
Have-Nots – Bridgette, Corey, James
Have-Not Supplement – TBD

August 5th starts with a bang when PeePee uses Victor’s HOH to put up Michelle and Z. Then they laugh like maniacs in the bathroom because this will definitely make Victor look weak – putting up the two lamest competitors. But their bliss doesn’t last because afterward PeePee argue all day over which nominee should ultimately go. Paul wants Zak gone while Paulie keeps arguing for Michelle to leave. After nominations Michelle cries and loses her sh** big time while Zakiyah handles it fine – utterly unphased. Paul and Paulie pretend they had nothing to do with the nominations. Meanwhile they’re fighting behind the scenes every time they get a minute alone over controlling the ultimate outcome. Problems in PeePee paradise? Yes, please.

Michelle keeps getting us feedsters all excited when she says things like, “I’m gonna blow some shit up!” but we haven’t seen anything blow yet other than her nose from excessive crying. Maybe she needs her old platinum blonde hair back so she can kick some ass. We know that Meech had Janelle hair before she came to BB. So, Fetchland recommends maybe sending her a @JanellePierzina care package so she can get her bright blonde mojo back and kick some competition ass. We admit a tremendous bias toward our beloved Janie… but nobody can deny the lady would rock that house out of its current “friendship” funk.

Speaking of that wretched word “friendship,” tarnished for now because of PeePee, it seems like Paulie might be eyeing James for his final two fantasy. That’s because James really seems like a puppet in the house now, especially after he decides to “share” the care package power with the house. It’s so effin weak, this lack of game move. So, James gave his HOH to PeePee and now he gives the eviction vote deletions to the house. He’s made no moves this summer, other than on Natalie. Not only that. James went back on his word to Bridgette (future jury member) and that’s at least one strike against him (possibly more) for jury votes. In other words, your boy, James, is perfect to place next to you in the final two. It also seems like Paulie undermines Zakiyah as prep for a possible final two. Keep her weak and confused = his strategy. On the other hand, if Paulie’s up there next to your boy, Paul, he’s probably going to lose; AKA Paulie’s gonna take second place. So, when does he plan on taking care of that messy business? We’re counting down the minutes in eager anticipation of a spectacular showdown. Bros be in a beatdown. That’s our favorite brand of BB “friendship”.

No matter who you’re pulling for at this stage of the game, keep in mind that it’s only half over and not “all over” even if it feels that way sometimes. Lately the guys are running the place, especially PeePee. But we’re constantly being told to “expect the unexpected” in Big Brother and they say that for a reason. Many don’t like it when the show producers “mess” with the show but we think it could use some messing with even if we can’t trust America to pick the right care package recipient. Here’s a hint: IT SHOULD’VE BEEN MICHELLE.  But who can blame America? They mostly watch the TV show only and thus love James and his prank antics. It makes perfect sense they’d pick him. He’s Mr. Popularity in the house right now too. But we’ll see how long this smooth sailing lasts. We predict a coming cataclysm when Your Boys want to oust Natalie and he has to actually make a final decision knowing full well that she’ll eventually see it when the show’s over. Say what you want about James but he adores Natalie and for that, we’ll always like him at least a little.

Quotes of August 5th:

Paulie: Am I laying in Victor’s wet dream?

Natalie: Thanks, America! I’m so excited James received the care package because he was really jealous when I got mine.

– Katherine Recap

comiXology summary:
A new mobster enters Gotham City looking to make it big. But when Batman tracks this fugitive from Chicago underground, he encounters something else lurking in the depths: Killer Croc!

So Suicide Squad came out yesterday.

I haven’t seen it yet, but I know one thing… It’s got Killer Croc!

See?

Poor Croc. Is he a super human freak? A regular fellow with an unfortunate skin condition? A cannibal? A pretty nice guy who happens to live in the sewers? “Throw a rock at him [Batman] once”? In the comics and cartoons he’s been variations on lots of those things; but what crime did Croc commit to make it into Amanda Waller’s eponymous ‘Squad?

I don’t know either.

But they sure made him bumpy for the movie.

Anyway, in honor of the movie opening (featuring Croc) I decided to peel back the veils of years to a 1993 cover by Kelsey Shannon. 1993! I was in high school! Taylor Swift was four! Killer Croc was strangling the World’s Greatest Detective on the cover of The Batman Adventures #7!

I love this cover.

It is so g-d unpretentious.

Has Croc got scales? Not on the cover of The Batman Adventures #7 he doesn’t (explicitly). Shannon kind of lets you use your imagination on this one. Croc certainly has bumps on the top of his head; and the name “Croc” probably signals you that he is kind of lizard-y, skin-wise. Certainly his coloration is unusual.

The “acting” on this cover is also great.

I am so So SO a fan of form over detail. Shannon used minimal lines on this image. There are probably fewer lines on the entirety of The Batman Adventures #7’s cover than are contained in one square inch of the average Rob Liefeld pinup. But it doesn’t matter! With minimal lines Shannon is able to deliver so much drama.

We know Croc is strong. How can we know without infinitely rendered pectoral-deltoid-rectuses? Because of the pose, the angle on Batman, the implied bulge of tendons across Croc’s forearm.

We know Batman is desperate. How can we know without a bunch of narrating first-person word balloons? Because his teeth are grinding together, and his face is being compressed, and he is futilely trying to pry that left Croc-arm from around his esophagus.

The color is mostly flat. It’s not exactly flat; there are some gradations and implied shadows… But it’s pretty flat. I am a fan of flat color over “computer coloring” (or at least the look of what was called computer coloring in the early 1990s)… I point it out here because in 1993 it would have been really easy to fall into the garish trend coming out of Image and the X-Men books; but Shannon didn’t.

We thank you.

Batman thanks you.

And 23 years later, so does an immortal Killer Croc.

LOVE
MIKE