I've read a lot of Palahniuk. I had a thing for his work in my late teens before I realized that he basically only had one or two good ideas in him. But I think he sees himself as a sort of literary John Waters, coyly peddling smut to arouse the fury of pearl-clutching mothers everywhere. He is no John Waters,…

Ahh. So. Fuck those guys, then. Got it.

I think he's shown potential for growth in his time w/ Ragnar. Whether or not the show follows through with it is another matter. They've basically ruined Bjorn. Remember when he was a clever, thought boy who showed potential to succeed his father? And yeah, you're right, now all he does is yell, and it's never…

While not as captivating as Ragnar, I do think there's hope for the future of the show in Ivar. He gives a great performance and really sells that he is his fathers son.

Popletine

That's the thing though, I've seen the first season. Without getting into spoilers, I thought it all wrapped in a pretty final way.

So I'm confused. Is this a limited or an ongoing series? Everyone keeps pulling the old switcheroo with these shows now, billing them as miniseries and then being all "oops, we're renewing it for another season!"

Well, fair. I was thinking quality of books and not sales.

I feel like Legion is either going to be the best Superhero show ever made, or the worst, but either way it's going to be ahead of all other contenders by a mile.

Yeah, but even when it did there was zero continuity knowledge required.

The first season and a half are pretty mediocre, but then the show starts to become more focused on the Norma/Norman relationship and it gradually gets much, much better. I think in the first season they were trying to make it more of a Twin Peaks-y show with a town full of mysteries and that didn't pan out so well.

I'll agree that Civil War II was unequivocally awful, but to say that Marvel is in "sad shape" seems an overstatement. The major event that preceded this one, Secret Wars, was one of their best in years, and they're still putting out many fantastic comics on a regular basis.

And I, for one, am very, very okay with that.

Fair. I don't read it all as strongly as you do. I think Veronica has been shown to be a more three-dimensional well-rounded character than she is initially painted to be. Archie is, I think, clearly the jerk for what he said to Betty.

Could you elaborate a little? I'm not disagreeing with you, but that's a pretty strong take and I'm curious why you feel that way.

I have to generally disagree. I mean firstly, who the fuck knows what anyone will be talking about in 100 or 1000 years, regardless of how good or bad it is right now. Maybe Michael Bay's Transformers will be the only blockbusters that survive an apocalyptic event and they'll be studied as classic texts in future…

I like North's writing, but the change in artists has been the most jarring for me. The new style feels very generic and indistinct, which seems to be totally opposite of what the general Archie relaunch was about.

That's a good point, but I have to disagree. I think The Clone Wars did a solid job with Maul, even though "lets bring Maul back" sounds like terrible fan service on paper. They made Maul more interesting than the prequels ever did, and it continues to pay off on Rebels. That said, I think Savage (god, that name)…

Maybe I'm giving the show too much credit but everything so far seems very in character for him. Sit back and watch and watch and learn and watch until your know how to plan the perfect attack. I know everyone wants him to do something totally badass right away but I think we're going to have to wait quite awhile…

Yeah, it's possible, but they haven't done enough character work on Youens to really justify that. He's just an endless font of opportunities for Lip to fuck up