You can listen to the episode by clicking: Episode 106
There are good days we always remember in our lives. The day you meet the love of your life, the day you take that fantastic walk where you see all of the pretty flowers, the day you pull off the perfect vending machine bingo when you get three items for the price of one, and the day you skip school with your best friends and fight crime.
You know what I am talking about. You fake the cough, you give off the vague symptoms that show something being off without a trip to the hospital. You fake out your parents, your partner, your roommates…you call into school, work, the military….you get the day off. And then….then you rock out in your underwear.
Then you reach out to those friends who are actually sick, or have the day off, or who got fired for covering for you the last time you pulled a stupid stunt like this. You convince them to get out of their pajamas (or put some on, depending on the type of day you are contemplating), and you take off to carpe the day.
Oh the hi-jinx you can pull when you are off and have no real obligations to anyone. You can party, visit museums, pretend you are the hamburger prince of Des Moines. The world is your oyster, you are the boss of you and your friends. You write the songs and sing the lyrics. You can do anything, from visiting the tallest tower, to breaking into the most broken building.
Just make sure that you take along that special someone. That person you want to spend time with, snuggle up with…smooch with. There is nothing worse than watching a school of fish swim by you at the aquarium without a partner to lock eyes and lips with.
But what if you do not have the charisma to “get away with it”. What if you are more of a introvert that tries to slide by and not be noticed? What if you are more of a Rick than a Jeff? Then you need to go out and find that shining star. Don’t worry, many charismatic people are looking for that perfect wing-person to make them look great. You too will find your Maverick.
If you don’t take the chances to explore the world by skipping out on your responsibilities, you are missing one of life’s greatest joys. You have to recharge the batteries with no responsibilities. If you don’t take the time to really take that day off, then you are going to be a sad Gus, and nobody likes that.
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Jeff and Rick Present 
Good afternoon friends!
Hello from southeast Missouri where we are experiencing chaotic tumult of weather we have this time every year due to climate change, but since I don’t meet many embracers of science, people make asinine quips about women as nature. (and I know you may have this stereotype in your fair land, it just feels that there is an overabundance of this where I live)
ANYWAYS, Your evaluation on this particular issue has me seriously contemplating re-reading this miniseries. I got and read it back in December 2021 realizing that at some point you two were going to cover it eventually and the only thing I can recall outside of the good interior work and covers was some queasy feelings about the character of Julie and how she was being portrayed.
There’s a thing you two do which I find entertaining in you brainstorm a story beat after reading the issue. Often times it is probably out of creatives hands when editorial gets to the almost finished product.The part you speak about regarding the random insert of Delilah in the fight scene where their banter feels more like fill in the blank exposition. Anymore it feels like the best stories of superheroes are written from fans and it shows when you guys take the time to hash it out.
The opener with Oh Yeah for random banter takes a good 2 comedy points.
When Johnny was playing Guitar Hero it reminded me of visiting friends on the 4th who had the whole band set up. A mutual friend was from another state and in an actual band which played speed metal. He had never heard of Guitar Hero and he was under the belief it was playing actual chords and notes than pressing buttons on the guitar neck. Guy was dismayed to discover that kids and adults were not actually learning music but they were pressing actual buttons. It was a good thing he did before getting his request to play Master of Puppets was fulfilled.
Back to the story… It does work under the title as Ricochet is pretty much solo on the book. I did wonder if there was a whiff of the tv show The OC floating about in the making of the miniseries. I kept thinking of Seth Cohen and the rest of the show’s fantastic four during your breakdown of the issue. I haven’t seen that show in a while. Hmm…
Well friends, I have to log off. There’s a narrow window of nice weather to work outdoors in and as an older man, I have to take advantage of it. That Eliopoulos piece of Power Pack was great you posted to Facebook. Also, have you heard of the anthology being put together by editor Scott Dunbier for Ukraine? It has a staggering amount of talent with Louise and June contributing a story, Howard Chaykin creating a new American Flagg! story, Alex Ross and Art Adams are providing covers. All proceeds are being sent for relief in Ukraine. It seems like a worthwhile cause.
Another worthwhile cause is your promotion of Hero Initiative. They posted a video where comics writer Bill Loebs and his wife were able to get into good housing through the Initiative. The man’s journey from where he was 20 years ago is both harrowing and inspiring, but also inspiring are groups like Hero Initiative who support creatives fallen on hard times. Thank you for continuing promoting this great thing!
I hope you and your families are well,
Jeremy
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Hey buddy! Sorry about the delay in responses over the last many weeks. The world is big and heavy and I have had to do my part in carrying it.
Sadly, you can find “experts” and deniers and folks of an asinine nature no matter where you are. It is unfortunate that you feel that more than your fair share can be found in a close proximity to you. That said, it has been a hard few years, as assumptions I have had about the basic understandings of people has been challenged in the most disheartening of ways. getting real tired of living in historic times and seeing how regressive a large portion of people are at their core.
Okay, enough of the dire, let’s get on to the bliss. 🙂
I read these a few years back, and to be honest, not much stuck with me. A few plot points, and a few images. But I really would not have been able to tell you what the story was about if asked. I didn’t remember a thing about Julie in the books at all either. So that not a good sign for a Power Pack…expert is way to strong a word…enthusiast? It seems like they did a number of characters dirty here, but that is the story that was wanted to be told so I can forgive that. Still, this is not my Julie. I can accept her and love her, but still…
The story beat brainstorms (for me at least) are done on the spot. Glad you like those. They are fun bits and usually built off of the work already done by the writer. I think everyone likes to refine things that they observe and make them work better for their own preferences. I will do this for movies and all sorts of things. It is a good low risk brain exercise. I have seen fan done things that have run the gamut from amazingly great to amazingly garbage. Can’t think of any examples right now (Lower Decks is amazing) but I stand by this statement.
“The opener with Oh Yeah for random banter takes a good 2 comedy points.” Did I win the points or lose them? Arguments could be made for either direction. 🙂
Love the Guitar Hero story, that’s hilarious!
Never seen the OC so I can make no comment on this. There is a huge swath of shows like this that I never got into. I think that this was due mostly to not having time to watch TV so most of my media was on DVDs.
Didn’t hear about the anthology, but anything benefiting Ukraine is a good thing.
Rick is the one that brought Hero initiative to my attention and wanted to do what we could for it (which I support fully). Any thanks for that goes to Rick as I am just a passenger on that ride.
Talk at you later my friend.
-Jeff
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