AFTER THE PLAGUE
By Thaddeus Howze [@ebonstorm]

It has been said in
many a public place

“After the Plague
Came the Renaissance.”

Pithy, toothsome.
Rolls off the tongue.

It might have been
the truth once.
But that time is long past. Alas, we haven't had
nearly enough plague
for a Renaissance.

The world will
return to normal
in a couple of years.

Then the return to
the race
to the bottom.

Where pampered,
“first world nations”
lord it over a world

Hey Twitter! It's been a while. I used to write here all the time hanging out with #scifichat, #comicschat, #litchat, talking about #science, #tech, #autism and a dozen other topics which broadened my horizons and let me share my diverse interests in almost everything. Then my life got incredibly busy. My son went to high school and coupled with his #autism, our lives became super-complex. I lost my job and my car gave up the ghost after four years of @Uber. Then the unthinkable, my wife experienced #renalfailure.

SHOULDN'T SUPERMAN INNATELY BE GOOD AT COMBAT?

The Answer-Man's mailbox runneth over this week. But only one question caught my eye.

Another variation on
• Can Superman actually fight?
• Isn't he just a brawler?

Let's deconstruct this:

@MarkBrooksArt #DepoweredSuperman Q: Shouldn't Superman innately be good at combat?
A: Who says he isn’t?

Is it the fan who wants to say Batman is a better fighter because he’s been training since he was a teenager with his vaunted 127 martial arts?

Cool story, bro.

My Matrix of @Marvel's Magnificent Martial Masters
It's not perfect. I'll need to make two of these. One for heroes, another for villains.

This is my short list of everyone you should avoid pissing off in any visit to the Marvel Universe.

#YMMV #comics #martialartists S-Class: Exuding martial mastery, watching them fight is to stand transfixed by their perfection; they are the impossible done effortlessly. No army can stand against them. No army wants to.

Shang-Chi, Iron Fist, Black Panther, Mantis, Moondragon, Fat Cobra, Karnak the Shatterer

SPEAKING THE UNSPEAKABLE

I despair of being free of the coronavirus.

Not because we lack the tech, but because we lack the will.

Things which make no sense to me, things which seem cruel or outright monstrous and I am forced to ask: why?

Welcome to #SpeakingTheUnspeakable. • The #pandemic hasn't ended.

• #Governments, due to corporate pressures, are forcing people back to work.

• You may be #vaccinated, but you are NOT safe.

• The #coronavirus will last longer, cost more & kill millions more people worldwide.

A SEVEN DAY RECOMBINANT MIRACLE
#FlashFiction by Thaddeus Howze

Every seven days they evolved, passing through us, a liminal fire.

#amwriting #VirusBedTimeStories #SciFiFri By the time we understood, they drank us, a thousand lives a month, nonstop; by the time they achieved perfection at their apotheosis, we died in the millions.

The recombinations continued. New keys into newer locks.

(Art by Nathan Wyburn)

Everywhere I look, I see #companies complaining about a lack of #workers.

Their solution: Blame the workers because they don't want to rush back into the #workforce.

Can't say I blame them, since technically, the workforce threw them to the wolves at the start of the pandemic. Didn't whole industries (let go, furlough, lay off, or outright fire) their staff at the start of the pandemic if they couldn't do their work remotely?

Didn't they let them go without any concern with how they were going to pay their bills, maintain their healthcare & the like?

Speaking the Unspeakable:

I think @DCComics & @Marvel Comics are dying a slow death.

The thing killing them is initially what made them rich in the first place: Work for hire.

Creative independents who own their properties will be the force which will put them in the ground. Before this flame-war begins know I don't make this pronouncement lightly. I say this with a heavy heart. I LOVE COMICS. They helped me save my son and may have saved my life once or twice as well.

quora.com/q/quoranofthew…

I am the Answer-Man and I must voice my displeasure with Disney's decision to NOT recast the Black Panther after Chadwick Boseman's untimely death.

The explanation was: 'No one could replace Chadwick in the role.'

And no one will. Instead, let a new actor step into the role. As someone who has spent the bulk of his life enjoying different interpretations of my favorite heroes in the hands of different writers and different actors over decades, I don't see this as ANY different than any other recasting.

How many versions of #Batman do you know?

In the beginning was the Seed. Cast into space by the Last Ones, they knew their time was at an end. The world broken, ravaged, the people dying, they saw the cataclysm would be the end of all things.

They created the Seed, filled with the potential of a cross-realm Index. Launched into space, the Last Ones sent it into the heart of the cataclysm, the rain of asteroids upon the world and in its birth throes, it created gravity and dragged the raining death toward itself.

Each asteroid added to the Seed, making it larger and more massive.

It’s the End of California as We Know It nyti.ms/326ay4U As intriguing as this article appears, it does a disservice to claim California is uniquely affected by climate change. I dare say every state in the nation suffers from the same root ailments as California in regards to the topic of climate change. You just have to look closer.

Oh hell. Death is bloody inconvenient, isn't it? There you are, cruising along, doing your thing and then... BAM. Someone drops dead. And no it's not a surprise. You knew it was coming. You treasured every day. Smiled every time you saw that person acting in anything.

#StanLee And then one day, you wake up, just like any other day, get out bed; groan, take a shit, shower, shave, drink your coffee. And hear your idol is dead, while you walk out the door, not quite dry from your shower.

Where were you when you heard, Stan Lee died?

#StanLeeRIP