Rufferto II (Groo the Wanderer #30) 3.5Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Rufferto II
Series: Groo the Wanderer #30
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K

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Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. No forgetting poor Groo this month!

Finally, Groo has found something even dumber than he is. Rufferto the dog. The opening page to the comic gives us the previous comic in one page with the people involved just shaking their heads and rolling their eyes at Groo’s stupidity. It was a good refresher for those of us who might have accidentally skipped reading Groo for a month.

Nothing but people trying to swindle Groo, each other and the Royal Couple. Groo ends up with money, Rufferto and gets to end the comic fighting everybody. Which is What Groo Does Best!

This wasn’t a deep read, nor can I spout some bull caca to make it seem like this was A Big Important comic with messages about the Human Condition and a funny message that will bring us all together. No, this was a comic book and it entertained me for about 15minutes and that’s all I needed from it. It delivered in spades, just like all the previous Groo comics and I am thankful for that. Sometimes a cheese pizza is all you really want. And sometimes a Groo comic is all I really want.

This is the last page in the comic and it manages to recap the whole comic for your viewing pleasure.

★★★✬☆

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From Bookstooge.blog

Synopsis – click to open

The Adventures of Rufferto continue! The King and Queen continue to offer a reward for Rufferto and his 100,000 kopin collar. Soldiers try to find him. Swindlers find Groo and try to swindle him. Another King finds out about the collar and buys Rufferto off of Groo. The Swindler’s paint a dog to look like Rufferto and give it to the soldiers. And Groo is paid twice. And gets Rufferto back each time. And the comic ends with the soldiers, the swindlers and the other king all fighting over who cheated who the most. And Groo wins most of all with 2000 kopins and a fray!

• All of My “Groo the Wanderer” Reviews

Marvel Champions: The Deckening II

Today we will be talking about how to construct the Villain Deck. Last month I showed how to create your Hero Deck using the cards from the coreset box. While it was a simple process for someone used to constructing decks in various other card games, it might have been a little overwhelming for people who have never had to do that before. Thankfully, constructing the Villain Deck is MUCH easier. There are a lot less individual choices to make. While this might sound like a bad thing, it really makes everything much simpler, especially as the focus of the game is on the Hero.

Today, I will be walking you through constructing the Villain Deck using the villain Klaw.

As you can see highlighted in yellow with the big yellow arrow pointing to it, Klaw comes with a set of 21 cards that form the basis of the villain deck (called the Encounter Deck in the rule book).

Along with these cards, you will also add to the Villain deck the Hero “Nemesis” cards that come along with the hero. If you had chosen Spiderman, you would have a set of “Spiderman Nemesis” cards, once again highlighted in yellow. Each set of cards is named and numbered, making it very easy to keep them together.

Next, you would choose two Module sets to complete your Villain deck. Once again, each is numbered and labeled, making it very easy to assemble a Villain deck when you open the box. I chose the “Standard” and “Legions of Hydra” modules.

So to recap, you will add all the following together to create your Villain deck.

• Villain card set
• Hero Nemesis set
• Module set x2

And that is that. Shuffle up, set your Villain aside, and set the Villain’s Main Scheme (included in the villain set of cards) aside and you’re ready to start playing. I hope that was easy to follow and made sense. If not, well, I guess there’s no hope for you, hehehehe 😉

Next month I am hoping to do another Playening post and to do a walk through of the high lights. But until then, remember:

There Can Be…..
…..Only None!

King’s Ransom (87th Precinct) 3.5Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: King’s Ransom
Series: 87^th Precinct
Author: Ed McBain
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 147
Words: 56K

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A rich man, who has trampled everyone who ever got in his way, has his chauffeur’s boy kidnapped when the kidnappers confuse the two boys. The ransom is enough that the rich man won’t be able to push through his latest deal and so he doesn’t want to even try to cooperate. It’s not until his wife leaves him with their son that he finally begins cooperating with the police. With a police officer hiding in his car, the rich man drops off a suitcase of fake money and the couple who are holding the boy decide they want no more and release the boy and make their escape to Mexico.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to deal with this when I realized it was going to be about the kidnapping of a young boy. Especially when one of the kidnappers was a violent punk of a man who attacks the wife of his co-kidnapper and attempts to rape her. He doesn’t get that far, but that was his intent and I almost dnf’d the book at that point.

In many ways, this was more about the rich man and his journey of self-discovery that he was a complete bastard than about the kidnapping. The rich man was a real jerk but he was nothing worse than the businessmen of today who sacrifice whole companies and their entire workforce simply to increase a projected profit and feed the greed of the shareholders. It’s sad that the love of money destroys people like this, from the inside out.

On the plus side, we don’t get much about Cotton Hawes, the manwhore. I was quite ok with that. Steve Carella is once again front and center and I like him, as he’s a good cop.

★★★✬☆

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From the Publisher & Bookstooge.blog

Synopsis – click to open

The story centers on the moral dilemma faced by a wealthy man when he is forced to choose between using his wealth to fulfill a personal ambition or saving the life of a kidnapped child. Two of the three kidnappers repent and tell the police where the boy is and disappear. The boy is rescued.

• All My “87^th Precinct” Reviews

Erg Raiders - MTG 4E

Sometimes having to explain what the card does takes up all the space and you don’t get any funny quotes like in Elvish Archers. That makes me sad.

The Five Chameleons (The Shadow #17) 3.5Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPresss & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Five Chameleons
Series: The Shadow #17
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 128
Words: 40K

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This was probably the first book where the Shadow really takes a beating. He’s been shot before, but this time it’s to the point of incapacitation. Never seen him so weak, but he still kills the bad guys. That’s how it should be.

I was expecting more from the Chameleons. Turns out they are just crooks that can pretty much blend into any situation and become whatever the circumstances demand. In this case, it was a bank manager, some bank tellers and a mortician. Not quite what I had in mind from the title. But, the leader, the guy playing the bank manager, manages to out think the Shadow and shoots him. Of course, the author sets up “circumstances” so the gang can’t immediately shoot the Shadow dead, which gives him opportunity to revive and fight back. A knife to his throat would have been just as effective at that point and it would have been silent. Lesson Number 1 in Villainy is always make sure the Hero is dead, really, totally, utterly dead. Or else he’ll come back and get you. Just like the Shadow does 😀

Speed of communication is the lifeblood of a society. I wrote about it in Kalin (A Dumarest book) and it has shown itself throughout the Shadow books as well. The crooks plan depends on people and the Feds not finding out about the counterfeit money until they are long gone. They are planning on days and possibly weeks. The Shadow counters that with a highspeed plane that gets information to his confederates in a day and brings those same confederates back to help him out. It still amazes me how the speed of information changes a culture. How much faster can we get? I’m kind of afraid to find out…

★★★✬☆

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From the Publisher & Bookstooge.blog

Synopsis – click to open

The Shadow seeks to unmask The Five Chameleons, master villains whose uncanny ability to blend with their surroundings rivals his own. Having hit upon a plan to funnel counterfeit money through a bank and steal genuine money, the scheme soon turns to murder and the Shadow becomes involved. He kills them all and saves the community.

• All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

[Art] Summer's Avatar

Spring’s Delight

Oh, it seems just like yesterday that I was celebrating Spring’s Delight.

The above picture is everything I like about Summer. While green springs forth in Spring (oh man, am I clever or what?), it is fully mature in Summer.

When I saw this, it reminded in a roundabout way of the Forest Lord from the anime Princess Mononoke. I like this drawing better though. The Forest Lord did not strike me as an intelligent being, just a force of nature. Here, the Avatar of Summer has the power of an Avatar but also the intelligence to use it.

May the rest of your Summer be temperate and filled with good things!

10 Things Only TRUE Bookstooge Lovers Understand or My Week V

This post is inspired by one I saw entitled “X Things Only True Book Lovers Understand”. While I am a book lover, apparently I’m not a TRUE book lover. I felt so ashamed.

So what better way to hide that terrible shame than by making all of you ashamed for not being a True Bookstooge Lover? I will now list the 10 Ways to prove you are a True Bookstooge Lover.

Please leave a comment sharing with everyone how much you failed at this and how ashamed you are. That will make me laugh AND will be cathartic for everyone else. There’s no shame in being a loser and feeling ashamed about it.

1. Bookstooge is always right, even if I think he is wrong.
2. If Bookstooge told me to commit seppuku with a clod of dirt, I would do it, successfully!
3. Short, stocky bald men are the most attractive.
4. I hate doing yard work too.
5. Pizza is the greatest food that has ever existed or will ever exist.
6. Who needs a life when you can blog instead?
7. I enjoy telling all my friends about Bookstooge’s latest posts
8. When I get up in the morning, my first thought is “What would Bookstooge do today?”
9. When Bookstooge says “Jump”, I don’t need to ask “How high” because I already psychically know.
10. I like boots too.
11. Damn commies! (that’s a bonus for y’all)

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What monks who eat nothing but rice look like.

After last week where I ended up in the ER for 9hrs to no avail, I was eating like a monk until about yesterday. Rice for breakfast, plain toast for lunch, rice chex (breakfast cereal) for dinner and applesauce for dessert. And wonder of wonders, my gut got better. No more pain or tenderness. So now I’m going to slowly ease myself back into a more regular dietary habit. If it wasn’t so hot out I’d go eat pizza. Cause that’s the epitome of “easing” back into things 😉

Tuesday we had some serious thunderstorms and rain move through in the evening. It poured so hard you could hardly see anything out the windows. Windy too. We ended up losing power for about an hour, but that wasn’t bad as some of our friends around town ended up losing power for 7-8hrs.

Thursday was one of those work days. We were working in Madison, which is about 2 1/2 hrs from the office. So half the day was spent in traveling; kind of cuts down on the work you can get done, you know? I did get a 10 1/2hr day out of it though, so that’s going to be good for the paycheck.
*insert happy trombone music

Other than the food thing, this was a pretty normal week. I really needed that. After how busy life has been for us the first half of July, I’m super duper ready to get back to my normal routine.

I hope you have a good Friday!