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My Pal Steve

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Article by Professor Elemental ‘Death is powerless against you, if you leave a good legacy behind.’ Batman, JLA 72 I wasn’t one of Steve’s best mates. In fact, although we chatted every week, I only met him in person a handful of times. But that’s sort of the point here — Steve made you feel like you were one of his best mates. He did this immediately and without hesitation. As soon as he met you, he gave his whole self: unashamedly geeky, enthusiastic, funny, warm and incredibly generous. He was — and I don’t say this lightly — a great man.   The first time he came to one of my shows, knowing that I loved comics, he brought me a bunch of new DC titles. Almost immediately, the show became a slight inconvenience to what I really wanted to do that evening — chat to Steve and his equally brilliant son about comics. And Steve knew it all. His knowledge of Batman was unparalleled and he was bursting with enthusiasm about the details and the minutiae of each run of the caped crusader. But he
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Fan Retrospectives: Vision: Part 9: They Will Die in The Flames

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Writer Tom King and artist Gabriel Hernandez Walta created a strange premise for the old-school Avenger Vision. They gave him a family. On paper, Vision with family hijinks sounds ridiculous and cheesy, but instead, it turned out to be a haunting, character-defining master class on comic storytelling. Let's break down 2015's Vision series. "They Will Die in the Flames" Writer: Tom King Artist: Gabrielle Hernandez Walta Color Artist: Jordie Bellaire Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles Review by Eric Lee After Vin discovers Victor Mancha is secretly spying on the Vision family for the Avengers, Victor lashes out violently. The entire issue takes place probably over the course of like 1-2 minutes. But writer Tom King chose to stretch the time and seriously decompressed the entire scene to emphasize the agonizing  pain that Vin is in. While Vin continuously screams, "Mother!" He then cries out, "Mommy", as if he becomes less formal and more huma
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Second HOST Warring Card Game Exclusive Preview Card!

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Article by Connor McIndewar Oh dear readers, today is a joyous day, a most momentous day. For I, Connor aka Akhariou, get to talk about one of my favourite things in the world… Otters. That’s right! The semi-aquatic mammals that capture people's hearts just like their favourite rocks is what I get to gush to you all today about. But that's not all! Nope, I get to also talk about a game that myself and Adam champion and love oh so dearly in Host. Oh yes! Host now has an otter! And I didn’t even have to play the creator for it… yet. Meet Rosa, The Otter Spirit. A beautiful specimen of an Otter drawn in a most Minty way. Now dear readers, those eagle eyed amongst you may notice that Rosa is not in fact an entity, but instead an Sorcery Equipment. How playful. She is from the Amity Faction and this doubly, or should I say triply, reflects in her cost of three whole Amity to play. The effect of “Equipped Entity gets Prey: Discard a card.” Led me to a lot of weird places for how thi
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HOST Warring Card Game Exclusive Preview Card!

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Article by Adam Ray Hello again card gamers. The best kept secret in collectible card gaming is here. Host, Warring Card Game has been a firm favourite for us here at Fantastic Universes. We've been with it since the beginning, and have made firm friends with its creators. You can find all of our content on the game of Host written up here , or over on the Fantastic Universes Podcast . Now that all the Resource types are out there thanks to Binky the Everlasting Youth, we can really look forward to the next expansion! We have much to look forward to in the Wraiths of Wrath expansion, and another expansion immediately after. So much wonderful newness from the expansion for Host, so what cards can we expect in this expansion? Well, our first one is large and slimy. Do not be put off by this card, dear reader. It may look innocuous, but Large Slug is a secret treasure. The Defender keyword means your opponent needs to waste their turn attacking into this instead of your more important
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Fan Retrospectives: Chris Claremont's X-Men: Part 3: My Brother, My Enemy!

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  Chris Claremont is arguably the most influential X-Men writer and one of the most important superhero comics creators in general. His command of prose, deft use of subplots, and willingness to let characters grow in unexpected ways put a definitive stamp that few has been able to replicate since. Come and see how X-Men rose from obscurity into the a global pop culture phenomenon primarily under the pen of this one man. "My Brother, My Enemy"  Uncanny X-Men #97 Writers: Chris Claremont Artists: Dave Cockrum Review by Eric Lee Previously on X-Men :  The X-Men are still reeling from Thunderbird's shocking death. The Mansion gets a new housekeeper who may not be a real housekeeper Moira McTaggert, And the team fights a demon who resides in their own backyard. We open up to a completely new plot thread: Professor Xavier is haunted by dreams of a bug-like alien spaceship. There also happens to be an insectoid armored humanoid reaching out to Xavier before the professor wa
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Thought Bubble Festival announces more guests for 2024 convention

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THOUGHT BUBBLE  ANNOUNCES MORE GUESTS FOR THE 2024 COMIC CONVENTION E.M. CARROLL, LEWIS HANCOX, TULA LOTAY, RAM V ANNOUNCED THE HARROGATE CONVENTION THOUGHT BUBBLE FESTIVAL LEEDS & ACROSS YORKSHIRE 11 -17 NOVEMBER 2024 THOUGHT BUBBLE COMIC CONVENTION HARROGATE CONVENTION CENTRE 16 & 17 NOVEMBER 2024 Thought Bubble, the award-winning Yorkshire comic convention and festival has announced more guests appearing at this year’s event. Loved by creators and fans alike, Thought Bubble will take over the massive Harrogate Convention Centre this November for their seventeenth convention. Announced today as special guests for Thought Bubble 2024 are award-winning comic writer and artist E.M Carroll (A Guest in the House, When I Arrived at the Castle), Thought Bubble festival-founder and Eisner Award-winning artist Tula Lotay (Somna, Barnstormers), popular online creator turned comic creator Lewis Hancox (Escape from St. Hell), and UK based Egyptian comic book artist Ahmed Raafat, best kno
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Fan Retrospective: Chris Claremont's X-Men: Part 2: Night of the Demon

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Chris Claremont is arguably the most influential X-Men writer and one of the most important superhero comics creators in general. His command of prose, deft use of subplots, and willingness to let characters grow in unexpected ways put a definitive stamp that few has been able to replicate since. Come and see how X-Men rose from obscurity into the a global pop culture phenomenon primarily under the pen of this one man. "Night of the Demon"  Uncanny X-Men #96 Writers: Chris Claremont, Bill Mantlo Artists: Dave Cockrum Review by Eric Lee Previously on X-Men : The original roster of X-Men all quit, with the exception of Cyclops, leaving him to lead the all-new, all-different X-men team. Count Nefaria and his Ani-Men took over a nuclear facility and blackmailed the world to pay his ransom. The X-Men defeated him but at the cost of Thunderbird sacrificing himself to prevent Nefaria from escaping. In the aftermath of Thunderbird's death, Cyclops does what he does best and b
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