170 Comments

I played football at the University of Chicago, a division three geek school, and the offensiveline had a T-shirt that we all wore that on the back said “fat and ugly ‘cept George” the front had the UC logo on it and a football. I wore it all the time to work out in and years later my parents for Christmas had made an entire box of that shirt in my size plus a tiny one for my young son. If you ever needed one, I could probably send one to you.

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Always nice to see a fellow D3 athlete out in the wild. Prost!

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Hey Robert: One of the joys of accessing ESPN+ is watching D3 football. Long after the Missus graduated from North Central College, her school competed for titles, and won at least one. And it was fun to watch, and remains so.

BTW, your name is Robert George Patton, correct?

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That's an awesome shirt!

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I love and collect foreign cast recordings of musicals on LP, but almost never talk about it with my wife as it’s just a private thing I’ve done for a while. Japanese Hair, Italian Fiddler On The Roof, Korean Guys and Dolls, stuff like that. Without my knowledge, She cataloged my entire collection, identified the languages I don’t currently have, and then dug deep to find records of these. So now I have a Hebrew Threepenny Opera, Finnish Annie, and Urdu Phantom of the Opera, among others.

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Your wife sounds like a keeper, Jake.

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I could not agree more.

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that's awesome.

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This almost brought me to tears. You have an amazing wife.

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Should I try to find some Hungarian versions for any of them?

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I mean, I’d absolutely love that. I only have one Hungarian recording of a musical called “She Loves Me” which takes place in Hungary (albeit an American musical)

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Let me know your primary "targets" and Ill ask around.

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Honestly, any (non-movie) musical in Hungarian would fit the bill. But anything by Frank Loesser, Kurt Weill, Comden and Green, or Bricusse and Newley is top of the list

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Talk about a drawn out conclusion! I am both sad and excited to see Spectators coming to an end soon. I would definitely have a hardback copy of it on my list - looking at the artwork on a big screen still isn't the same as having it on paper.

I think the last great gift someone gave me was my aunt signing me up for a paper subscription to The Onion. Did you know they're doing that again?? Hopefully they get to buy out Infowars and become a major media empire of their own, although I worry that being associated with Infowars might make people take them less seriously as a news outlet.

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I had (re: stole. lol) an entire THE ONION newspaper dispenser in the early aughts, maybe '05ish, and had it in my SF apartment for a few years, lol.

I noticed one day that the cable holding it to the lightpost was damaged, so I broke it and convinced my roommates to come with me later that night and carry it the four or five blocks back to our place. It was HEAVY and we laughed for most of the trip, but the four of us made it happen and we used it to store our pipes, bongs, and other weed paraphernalia like true degenerates.

I bounced SF in a panic after a nervous breakdown and left behind many things and people, none of which I regret more than that THE ONION newspaper dispenser.

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I cannot think of a better life for a The Onion dispenser! Hopefully it had gone on to a worthy home and had many a new adventure since.

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Curse you for making me want to make more stuffing. Rude, frankly!

Maybe not the last great gift, but a recent one that meant so much was a friend offering to chip in about $50 so I could afford a new (refurbished) 3d printer after mine bit the big one (sidenote, so incredibly useful for cosplay! Greeblies bend to my will now), and after I shared my venmo they surprised me with more than that - enough to splurge for the NEW new version. It truly meant the world to be able to buy a NEW version, and I'm so truly grateful for my friends.

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My wife Katy is inordinately excited that our stuffing waffle tradition got a mention! Our other new favorite is making a quiche from leftover green bean casserole. Unbelievable stuff!

Speaking of Katy, years ago she gave me the greatest gift of my life. See, I only have two genuine regrets in my life: That I never got a mohawk before my hair fell out and that I let a former girlfriend talk me out of going to a David Bowie concert (the Reality Tour, sadly his last). Katy surprised me with a trip to Chicago to see the I Am Bowie exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. An amazing interactive exhibition (with Bowie’s coke spoon!) that finished with a fully immersive concert experience. She outdid herself.

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VERY cool...any idea if that exhibit will still be there in April? (And yes, I know I can also just google it...but I'm lazy)

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It was back in 2015-2016.

The coke spoon was a favorite of mine as well!

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Egads....guess I won't be going then : )

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It went to NYC I think after Chicago.

I can send you my coke spoon to help recreate the experience. 😉

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Aww, sharing really is caring!!

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Damn, I'm really searching the archives here. My First Edition copy of The Fox and the Hound by Daniel P. Mannix is certainly the best thing I've ever received.

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Last Christmas, my wife truly surprised me with an X-Men arcade game cabinet. It’s one of my favorite button smashers of all time, and I just love Colossus yelling “HHRRAAAAHHH!” as he uses his “mutant power.” Now the present fun is even better because I play it with my two sons and my wife. It’s the best.

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I got that X-men arcade game as well! Whenever I play it with my son I explain how impossibly expensive it would have been to beat back in the 90s. That’s a 50 bucks worth of quarters game

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A recurring bit I will miss when Spectators comes to a close is the unrelated pic before the Saga spoilers. I know it’s coming every time, but now I try and guess what it will be before I scroll any further down. I’ve never gotten close.

As for great gifts, after presenting some of my work in a high stakes setting, I came home to a big wrapped box on the table. I literally yelped and teared up a bit when I opened this typewriter lego set. The keys work and everything! So much fun to put together.

https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Typewriter-Building-Writers-Pieces/dp/B094RBYH2S/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=150095914544&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.iZ4C4wyV1nvwBApAICRzwLpKdC4XmlJfJ-HxpHFYRTIVH-fBPz8seiYs8UYKFhzxZtrKbBSLCi0c2NF-6VyZSaC-HpIFIso3ED-vLfwElLp-t1VaV1SChDtc5azbDY8M7OPKklYcnIXUR1M_NeNGjo-dtwcFoY6z1_HjnHWAwmimVlvJTvy7ULQ3jEAcHP8YDIdpKK6tecod9P2GLEtrHg.GrE9zA_mrN2dJPbexQf0R_rqmnPbtln7JQWW8QIYyCU&dib_tag=se&hvadid=634042879387&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9002001&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=14134033275626496013&hvtargid=kwd-1579466061506&hydadcr=1287_13554306&keywords=adult+lego+typewriter&qid=1733187219&sr=8-1

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The greatest gift our family got was 10 years ago, when my wife’s father (who’s health was failing) was given a new liver. He’s still around doing better than ever and an amazing grandpa to our kids.

I also got a Nintendo 64 when I was 11, and it was even better than a liver.

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Waiting another month for next ish isn't interminable. We'll live. 👍

How are the new smaller size collections doing for y'all? Really curious to see if this format has legs...

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Fantastic, thanks! New Edition of Volume 2 coming soon, and I see Vertigo will be releasing some compact Y the Last Man volumes. Readers can’t get enough of this size…

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Dude. I told DiDio (like 15+ years ago) at NYCC to print books in that size and ask book stores (and LCS) to stock them in the manga section. I was practically begging him. Sadly my prescient sage advice went unheard. It might have saved him from the bat penis backlash.

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I mean, size was definitely the issue in that situation too.

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HA!

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I saw that Y the last man was added to the DC compact line and was delighted. I really hope they do all the volumes and not just volume 1. I really like the small form factor for reading, especially when travelling. I've bought Watchmen, joker, and batman hush. Once I finish batman hush I will be buying the court of owls compact.

Hope DC do more vertigo stuff in that form.

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Also, good on you for prioritizing the well being of your team and their families. Keeping to some arbitrary date at the expense of people's sanity and health is silly. I'm happy to know that I'm supporting a team that doesn't promote that kind of nonsense.

Plus, isn't family one of Saga's larger themes? What kind of fans would we be to get upset because you folks were behind because you prioritized your loved ones?

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An adult onesie. Don’t judge. It’s so dang cozy. I have wanted one for a while and finally got one for my birthday. Perfect wintertime outfit. I cherish it.

Close second to this really nice warm pair of waterproof gloves my wife got me last winter. We had a mild winter last year so didn’t get to use them all that much. I lose my gloves all the time and always just had cheap fleece ones that get super cold, wet and nasty in the snow. I must say, those warm waterproof bastards came in handy the last few days. I live in Erie, PA and we just had a 3 day snowfall total of around 4 feet. Over 2 feet on Friday alone. So I have had quite a bit of shoveling to do and I’ll be damned! My hands were toasty and dry while shoveling thousands of pounds of snow. 5 stars. Would recommend. The gloves, Not the shoveling. Shoveling 4 feet of snow can just Fuck right off eternally.

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I've been perpetually waiting for the next issue of Saga since 2012. It's fine. Honestly, I'm worried about how I'll feel after issue 108 and there is no more waiting to do.

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Wow, a true toughie for this week's question. I have received tons of good (to great) comics, books, toys and statues over the years (and likely even a shirt or two, as well)...but if we are talking about truly GREAT, then it has gotta be when the missus brought me a cocktail and attached her positive pregnancy test to it. We had spent about a year trying and I was heading out on location for a job in a couple weeks, so we were about to pause things. That is one gift I won't forget...even though as she's now 14 and there are certain times I'd like to try (I kid, I kid...kinda).

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The last, great gift I received is the Taschen Silver Surfer Vol. 1, 1968-1970 XXL. This is limited to 200, and for the life of me, I cannot understand how they are still available. I got mine last Christmas. If you love the Surfer, get one for yourself. It's georgous! https://www.taschen.com/en/books/comics/08135/marvel-comics-library-silver-surfer-vol-1-1968-1970/?forceCountry=US&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA0rW6BhAcEiwAQH28Ijxh8kElDGtcS4SaeH4kuyHPYP0UaUv1et7zctilzWFILfz1tTI0ChoC2_4QAvD_BwE

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Correction. $200 is the price. They made 5,000, and for $600, they made 1,000 with a special cover and slipcase.

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Those Taschen volumes are killer! I’ve got the Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man and FF ones, and they are truly spectacular.

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They are! I have the 75 Years of Marvel and the 75 Years of DC ones as well. I'll have to check out the Spider-man one, though it's probably gone.

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I am sure you already know but Taschen is now doing XXL reprints of EC Comics. They are starting with Weird Science and I have already ordered a copy. I am really excited about it because I love large/oversized comics and I like the fact that the original colors with be retained.

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I did NOT know that. Thanks!

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My last GREAT gift was about 8 years ago my wife and kids got me a Blue Singlecut McCarty 594 model Paul Reed Smith Electric guitar. It is a gorgeous instrument that hangs on my wall and I pull it down and play it almost everyday. it was my childhood dream instrument and they surprised me with it (sort of) for Christmas one year.

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Will Saga be the longest run of a comic by a single writer-artist team? I imagine there might be something to beat 108 issues, but I'd be shocked if there was anything that can top 17 years. Cerebus was an absurd 27 year run, but that's a single cartoonist.

ETA: There's longer runs by a single writer - Bendis on Ultimate Spider-Man, Claremont on Uncanny X-Men - but those have multiple artists (even though the majority of USM is Bagley). The Walking Dead will have more single issues by a writer/artist team, with 187 drawn by Adlard, but the title as a whole still does technically have two artists.

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