Or here we go: Seinfeld and Law and Order both take place in New York. It's conceivable they *could* take place in the same cinematic universe, but nobody would guess that by watching the shows.

That's my basic underlying question—do these shows *feel* like they belong to the same universe? It's not enough to say that different people go through different things. Maybe I picked a poor example — Armaggedon and Law and Order may technically play by the same rules of logic, but if you knew from the movie that an…

Sure, but these are fictional stories that assume a tone and claim to be, generally speaking, intertwined. In a sense, ALL fiction takes place in the same universe … at least all stories that take place on Earth, let's say. But that doesn't mean that you could just say that The Naked Gun series and the Godfather…

Well, or *you* can … and I'm asking you to, because I'm curious what you're subjective opinion is. (This isn't a trick question or a trap, I promise.)

So you're saying that you buy it, that it feels like these stories coexist and could conceivably interact? You don't need to tell me it's unlikely or whatever, just curious if you think, subjectively, that these world cohere.

Not sure you're getting my question. I get the mechanics. I understand how comics work on a basic level, but thank you.

Maybe this isn't a fair question, but Marvel brought it on itself:

Eh, as a fan of Difficult People, I'd say his humor is more "If you don't think the joke is funny, hope you get cancer and eat a box of donuts with vodka."

If you're looking for a Christmas song that is neither a novelty song nor stripped of the holiday's spiritual core (without condescending to the dime store version of most carols), look no further than "Joseph, Who Understood" by the New Pornographers.

I thought it was maybe a scene from the upcoming finale, showing Dipper and Mabel as preteens or something.

Gah, nightmare fuel!

I've been annoyed by the "Chosen One" trope for a while now, and one major reason just hit me this week—it's outright TELLING the audience that a character is important rather than SHOWING. It robs the narrative arc of any surprise or organic development in favor of just telegraphing outright who a character is. This…

What if the Hulk had Banner's intelligence?
What if Captain America was never frozen and fought in Korea and Vietnam?
What if Howard the Duck came to Earth?
What if Hank Pym had formed the Avengers in the 70s and created Ultron in the 80s?
What if every Avenger had been gamma bombed and became Hulks?

I keep waiting for Marvel to somehow introduce a "What If?" style anthology into the MCU. Web series maybe? Fake trailers?

Yeah, that's likely to be the problem with any show that lasts this long without the core creative team remaining the same. It makes me think of the hodge podge of product you get with any given comic book line over time. I still think they could've decided a while ago to set stronger rules and to run with them.…

Not sure if this is responding to your question exactly, but I'd say that any cartoon set in the real world will have a reasonable "good will" period before it has to decide if—from a narrative standpoint—it's going to care about continuity and let time progress forward naturally OR throw out continuity and keep the…

What if what stopped?

"(And, sure, “HOMR” contradicts “Lisa The Simpson” on the matter of Homer’s intelligence, but that’s a comments fight for another day.)"

Someone please tell me there's a Fan Edit out there that just plops the entire Galt speech into the climax … all 3-hours-plus of the damn thing, just dropped into the middle.

I'd say what it was missing, and also maybe addressing Dan's point about the plus-size models, was a character in the mold of Big Gay Al. Meaning, someone who posts self-affirming things online and expects there to be negative blowback, but not letting that get them down or define them.