#Colonel's Review

[dopescissorscashwagon]

Prince William at the Colonel's Review before Trooping the Colour on June 10, 2023. 

[thepastisalreadywritten]

[vox-anglosphere]

Formal rehearsal for Trooping the Colour with added canine charm.

8th June 2024. According to the British Army's X post today, "More than 1,200 soldiers took part, together with 242 horses and an enormous dog."

They were taking part in the Colonel's Review, the final rehearsal of next week's Trooping The Colour.

The enormous dog is my friend Seamus, officially named Turlough Mor, mascot of the Irish Guards.

Do not panic Seamus... I will be there next Saturday!

[a-rayneart]

Just finished season 4 of MASH

I know this art blog is quickly becoming a MASH rampage (not intentional, I swear) but I really want to give my thoughts on the season 4 finale and this seems like the best place to do it.

An incomplete list of every moment that struck me in S4E24: The Interview:

Hawkeye's demeanour in this episode is entirely different than in 'Yankee Doodle doctor', particularly his behaviour toward the film crew. This is unsurprising, but still significant to me.

I loved hearing Radar talk about his earthworms. I love whenever the characters engage in genuine hobbies outside of their jobs in the army, but hearing Radar babble about his earthworms was especially lovely.

"War is just killing, that's all." - Klinger

Hawkeye is so honest this episode, and he does it all with this completely checked out look, eyes glazed over.

Hawkeye also sums up his whole entire character. He talks about putting on a 'coat' of morale just to make others stop believing in where they are because it's the only way he can feel present. He also get's asked how he stays sane, which is pretty significant foreshadowing, to which he answer with a list of frankly insane things to do. It reminds me of the S1 episode where he pretended to lose it in order to get time off, but also of all the little times in episodes where he did something that was a bit outlandish, a bit crazy, and somehow also made perfect sense, like when he (briefly) pretended to be a corpse in an attempt to get back to his father.

"There's so much more to care about," and "It just doesn't matter anymore," are two things Hawk says in basically one breath and boy is that relatable.

I've already seen this clip but Mulcahy talking about the steam and the bodies in the cold hurts every time.

Genuine, non-sexual focus and appreciation for the nurses and the jobs they do.

Referencing the episode where Radar get's drunk in Tokyo and him looking so abashed about it.

"If I knew all the answers, I'd run for God." -Klinger again

More on Klinger– Usually he takes advantage of any opportunity to display his insanity to higher ups. He doesn't do that here. He talks entirely sincerely about his joy for home and his hate for the war. You can really see every emotion on his face. He is so real.

Radar's compassion for the local Koreans. There's something special about it coming from him specifically that I can't quite pinpoint but I love it. Maybe because he comes from such a similar background but is now in a position where the people he answers to tell him that he's better than them. I think Radar must feel he has more in common with the local farmers than with his own colleagues.

I've never thought about it before, but it makes so much sense that Potter misses being around people his own age, and I could probably go on about that forever but I probably shouldn't.

Father Mulcahy looks so tired.

BJ smiles when he greets his wife and daughter, but when he looks down he looks devastated. How hard must it be to talk to his family through a TV screen. The acting in this episode it amazing.

I think it was BJ who talked about being torn between his love for the people he worked with and wanting to erase them from his memory, which reminded me of a line from the MASH fanfic I wrote before I even watched this episode; 'Nothing makes me happier than having people to miss, and that they’re far enough away that I can miss them.' (Check out my short fic, it's called After Life - Hawkeye's Poem)

The narrator ends by saying that they're doing what they do best but what they'd rather not do in a place they'd rather not be and I think that's just about the point of the show

All said, amazing episode, perfect acting, did what just about every episode of MASH does and gave me a deep sense of melancholy. I've seen a lot about this episode on here and I totally get why but I think we should also give some appreciation to the episode before it (Deluge) because I genuinely believe that that was just as good.

[world-of-wales]

THE PRINCE DIARIES ♚

11 JUNE 2023 || COLONEL'S REVIEW, HORSE GUARDS PARADE

The Prince of Wales carried out the Colonel's Review for the Trooping at the Horse Guards Parade in London.

This year it is the turn of the Welsh Guards to troop their Colour.

The Colonel's Review is the final evaluation of the Household Division before the soldiers and horses parade for the King during Trooping the Colour on June 17 to mark the monarch's official birthday.

William as the Colonel of the Welsh Guards inspected his troops on horseback, wearing a bearskin cap and red dress uniform.

His horse, named Darby, was a gift to the late Queen from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and it led the funeral procession for William's grandmother last year.

[jonberry555]

MAS*H Retro Review: The Trial of Henry Blake - Season 2 Episode 8

I love the television show M*A*S*H, so I thought it would be fun if I rewatched every single episode and recorded a review of said episode. Join me today along this five year long mission as I review the Season 2 Episode 8: The Trial of Henry Blake.

[danmeiarchive]

The Virtuous Omega Disguised as the Vicious Colonel by Little Baldy -- a brief review (no spoilers)

Novel length: 101 chapters + 3 extras

My Rating: ★★★★★ / 5

I have recently finished my second read through of this novel and I have to say that it holds up! There were many things that were hinted at and set up ahead of time that went right over my head on a first reading that I caught on this second read.

I also really appreciate that while this is an ABO story the omega character is not paired / marked against his will and while there is some teasing from his partner for things to become intimate he does take a step back and say they can stop if the omega wants to.

Check for content warnings under the cut.

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What kind of story is The Virtuous Omega Disguised as the Vicious Colonel?

VODVC manages to strike a balance between a suspenseful thriller and a cheesy romcom. There are moments in the novel where you have to suspend your disbelief but they often lead to moments that incorporate cheesy tropes that you would expect from fanfiction. So if you're looking for something more gritty and serious this may not be for you. I very much enjoyed the cheesy tropes and found them a nice little break from the tension.

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The setting is both interstellar and omegaverse. (Interstellar; a futuristic sci-fi with space travel and some more advanced technologies such as mecha. Omegaverse; people have evolved into having a secondary sex designation -- depending on the interpretation there may be female alphas who can inpregnate others and male omegas who can carry pregnancies). This novel also has transmigration as a topic though there is no system in place like you see in EPWCM or SVSSS.

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There is also a lot of secret identity shenanigans going on which is always something I enjoy. Part of why this is a central part of the novel is due to one of the alien species having an ability that lets them possess a humans' body so there are several moments throughout the story where characters are scrutinized in order to discern if something isn't quite *right* about them.

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Who are the main characters?

Without going into details here's a little bit about our main squad:

Lan Yu aka Colonel K - The main character. Lan Yu is a transmigrator. In his home he was an omega actor who had just won an award when suddenly a storm caused him to transmigrate. He finds himself in the body of "Colonel K" who is known to be ruthless, reckless, and generally hard to get along with. As such, K has made many enemies. Lan Yu does his best to keep up the arrogant facade of this vicious colonel while internally he curses the original owner of the body (referred to as "The original Colonel K".) The body he inhabits is also an omega who has disguised himself as an alpha in order to serve in the army.

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Colonel Lu RanKong - The love interest. Lu RanKong is a playful and friendly alpha and colonel who has often butted heads with K in the past. He takes his job seriously though he is more than happy to gloat when he is admired by reporters and civilians alike. He and Lan Yu are partnered together on sevel missions thoughout the novel and as they get to know each other slowly the bickering becomes less antagonistic and more flirtacious. He also has some secrets about his past that are unraveled as the story evolves.

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There are many characters who show up for one or two missions but don't really get the same limelight or development. I don't want to spoil things so I won't draw attention to the minor characters who *are* relevant to the final mission.

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Luo Yan - a character that shows up about 80% of the way though the novel. He is however very important as he is one of the aliens that can possess a human. Though him we learn a great deal about the aliens.

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"The original Colonel K" - a character that haunts the narrative. Their previous actions and choices shaped the path that Lan Yu has to walk on. Lan Yu also wonders what happened to them, if they died and that's how he came to be in their body? There are a lot of mysteries surrounding this character and as the story progresses they are slowly revealed.

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What is the plot of The Virtuous Omega Disguised as the Vicious Colonel?

The plot centers around Lu RanKong and Lan Yu's relationship, the missions they are assigned, and unraveling the secrets that surround "the original Colonel K". I really feel like each mission in the novel actively works towards worldbuilding, fleshing out the relationship between the two main characters, and setting things up for the climactic finale.

I also found each mission interesting -- they ranged from short missions to investigate something odd on another planet to longer term missions like going undercover in a prison. Along the way there's fun and silly scenes that help keep the overall mood of the novel on the lighter side. I haven't re-read all of Little Baldy's novels yet but this one really strikes me as a strong and fairly concise narrative with plenty of foreshadowing and hints that make the reader want to keep reading and see if their predictions were correct.

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Click 'keep reading' to see trigger warnings.

General content warnings for violence, guns, life and death situations, loss of and struggle for control over one's own body (due to the aliens that can possess people) -- this is used to fight and manipulate others but does not fall into the main characters causing lasting damage to each other or put them in a nonconsenting sexual situation. In one of the extras there is threat of violence to children (but they're okay don't worry!). There is also terrorist tactics (holding people hostage, strapping bombs to them, etc) in this novel.

ABO specific content: At one point Lan Yu gets drugged and it induces his heat however he is able to get to a safe location and take an inhibitor to ease and hold back the symtpoms for a while. Later on Lu RanKong starts getting intimate with Lan Yu as his heat returns -- Lan Yu is somewhat under the influence of his heat and the pheremones but Lu RanKong says they can stop if Lan Yu wants to. Lan Yu ends up deciding to let the heat run its course and consents.

[carlocarrasco]

A Look Back at Superman #292 (1975)

Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from reading the comic book and doing personal research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised…

[goodoldbandit]

The Legacy of Colonel T.E. Lawrence: Why Helmet Use Became Essential

Discover the story behind the authorization of helmet use after Colonel T.E. Lawrence’s tragic motorcycle accident. Explore the tradeoffs, challenges, and impact of this pivotal decision in road safety history. #HelmetSafety #RoadSafety #ColonelLawrenceLegacy In 1935, tragedy struck the world with the untimely death of Colonel T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. His demise wasn’t…

[petermorwood]

A day or so ago, @dduane reblogged a long post - a Canadian magazine article from 1966 - about the Americanisation of Winnie the Pooh.

It's an Impressive Tirade in which the writer (Sheila H. Kieran) says what she thinks about letting Walt Disney have a free hand with a foreign Children's Classic.

There's mention of the previous Adaptation Endeavour, "Mary Poppins" (1964) but it's very brief, perhaps with an eye to limited column space - or maybe because All Was Said Already in a previous review.

There is, however, rather a lot about the English characters being given American accents, and about the inclusion of a new character, an American gopher (which, the article suggests, looked vague enough to the Kieran children - its target audience - that it might as well have been a mole or a beaver).

*****

And that reminded me of another bit of American Animalisation done by Disney, in the 1949 short "The Wind and the Willows" - though in this instance it's visual since the voices are, for the most part, suitably British.

They include Basil Rathbone as narrator, and a horse who sounds like George Formby. In some scenes the horse actually looks like Formby, so this voice may not be entirely accidental.

Badger, however, sounds like a Scotsman - the worst kind of stage Scotsman at that - rather than how I used to "hear" him as a C. Aubrey Smith-voiced crusty retired colonel.

That, however, is just personal preference.

However, Disney's Badger is not a proper British (more correctly, European) badger, Meles meles. Here's one, which though not the most amiable of beasts in reality, still manages to look fairly affable ("I say, old chap, whatever are you looking at?")

Instead he's a North American badger, Taxidea taxus, which not only has a less affable expression ("Hey, bud, you. Yeah, you. You lookin' at me? You lookin' at ME?") but, more important, different stripes.

Here's Disney's version alongside mine. The correction took about five minutes of pixel-tweaking.

Disney's animators could have got it right from the outset just as easily, because I'm pretty sure the reference library which provided costume info for Rat's tweed Norfolk jacket and britches included picture-books of natural history.

Come to that, any "The Wind in the Willows" after the unillustrated first edition would have been enough, and there must have been at least one copy lying around for story adaptation and scene-description purposes.

The first illustrated edition came out in the UK in 1931, and its artist was, at author Kenneth Graham's request, the very same E.H. Shepard who had illustrated the Pooh books just a few years previously...

...while this Arthur Rackham colour plate is from an edition published in 1940 in New York.

So those books wouldn't have been impossible for Disney to get.

The problem, however, is that if a word ("badger", for instance) is well known to mean one thing here, it may be Too Much Trouble to find out if the same word means something else there, with the result that finding out can sometimes come as rather a surprise.

Check the UK / US meaning of "suspenders" to see what I mean... ;->

[yandere-sins]

Ivy random question in my head

You once mentioned that platonic yandere König often hides Kortac!Operator!reader from Ghost; where and how 💀

Did he just randomly push her into an empty room or storage when he senses Ghost and told her to wait or something-

AHA! Finally someone caught onto it! Let me write you some headcanons for that :D

»»———————— ♡ ————————««

♡ König's usual hiding place is easy and straightforward: His room. He'll ask you to meet him there or send someone to tell you to go there to retrieve some tasks or review documents with him. You'll have to go (begrudgingly), and he enjoys wasting your precious time by going on awkward yet never-ending talks. Even when you try to shift the conversation back to work, he still asks you about your favorite food, where you'd like to travel, and what you think of x, y, and z. It's tiring and unnecessary, and it adds double the time once he gets to the part where he actually reviews duties and operations with you. But you are untouchable as long as you are in his vicinity. No one gets past the door when König is having alone time with you.

♡ Now, sadly, he can't stay with you all the time. So he assigns you tasks! Fun... meaningless tasks. Sometimes he locks you in an office for that, returning to let you out a while later. Other times, he sends you across the whole base on a goose hunt for something he needs. He once assigned you to count ammunition... well, every bullet you could find. On a military base. You almost cried. But as long as only he knows where you are, König reached his goal and made it harder for anyone else to find you.

♡ In certain circumstances, he hides with you. And it's by far the worst thing. You don't like the closeness to him in his room? Tough luck. You two sat silently in a car once for hours in complete darkness just so König could make sure no one would snatch you from him at night. One time, you were doing inventory and unexpectedly got pulled into a container for an hour, with König refusing to let you go back to work just because he saw some suspicious activity that he didn't want to disclose to you in any way or form (he was really missing you that day).

♡ Despite having a high rank, his hiding shenanigans are occasionally overwritten by someone even higher on the list, and it's hell come true. König will be anxious, asking why you don't want to stay with him or why you are no longer listening to him despite you just doing your job. He invades every mission you are sent on, going berserk back at base if he isn't allowed to. You can watch him get angry, bluffing and shoving everyone in the base aside as he pouts and freaks out that your security is endangered, and he is watching you like a hawk constantly, just appearing wherever you go and not saying anything. He knows you must fulfill your orders, but he's not happy about it, and König will let you feel it.

♡ Fun fact: Ghost is usually close by when he's not on active duty. He hides in the shadows around you and even gets a thrill from invading König's hideouts with you. Even though König is trying so hard, Ghost will find you. But like a good hunter, he waits for the right moment, always keeping the colonel and you on your feet. You never notice that he's always right there with you until it's already too late.

[commsroom]

circumstances surrounding the “leaked” documents about eiffel’s sentencing in need to know, as i understand them:

one of the very first things kepler does is offer eiffel, minkowski, and lovelace a drink. in true “at any given moment, kepler has about eighteen ulterior motives” spirit, it is, among other things, “hospitality”, sure, a test for eiffel, definitely, but… i think the main reaction he was checking for was minkowski’s. will she look at eiffel, or react to his reaction? how much does she know? how much does he trust her?

in don’t poke the bear, jacobi and maxwell stop lovelace from breaking into kepler’s server by pretending to be in on it with her: “she’s very good. it might turn into a problem.” / “i’ll run it by kepler.” two episodes later, files from kepler’s very secure server are “leaked.”

(the words "need to know" are spoken offhandedly by eiffel in the episode itself, but it also calls back to the excuse maxwell gives lovelace: "colonel kepler practically lives by the words 'need to know.' and, apparently, nothing i can say will ever convince him that i 'need to know' everything that's in our databanks.")

need to know opens with minkowski finishing an eleven hour shift, and then finding out kepler moved that shift to, well. now. she’s already frustrated and sleep deprived.

minkowski complains to kepler. jacobi and maxwell, on cue, barge in and complain to kepler. kepler assigns minkowski, jacobi, maxwell, and lovelace to punishment detail, taking eiffel out of the group because “you’re the only one who hasn’t wasted my time with pointless whining.” lovelace says: “um, i don’t think that i did any complaining either, so…” but that doesn’t matter. it’s just an excuse to remove eiffel from the group; he could just as easily have been singled out for special punishment. either way, it was going to happen.

hilbert isn’t there. not the most significant factor, since he’s already been effectively sidelined by kepler, but remember he already knows about eiffel’s sentencing, doesn’t care (about eiffel’s history OR about anyone else’s personal drama), and will later respond to minkowski asking by telling her to grow up and get back to work. it simplifies things to not factor him in.

consider the files themselves: we know from happy holidays that maxwell not talking to her family is common knowledge, but jacobi reacts like it’s news. we know from hera’s performance review flashback in memoria that kepler and jacobi were aware of “multiple attempted crew member homicides” in her record. the file about hera’s bentham directory was on kepler’s server. if there’s one person who would’ve been briefed on everything there was to know about hera, it would’ve been maxwell; her shock is entirely feigned. in fact, almost every reaction from jacobi and maxwell here is feigned. they’re black ops specialists who arrived prepared with divide-and-conquer tactics. there’s no reason they wouldn’t know these things. also note that none of the “leaks” reveal anything about the mission they didn’t already know, and that nothing about the si-5 is incriminating - if anything, it’s mostly silly and even humanizing. and, yes, all of that contextualizes maxwell’s reaction to “skiing?!”

eiffel’s file comes through last, once they’re already worn out. kepler sends eiffel to check on them at the same time so that he’ll walk in. jacobi shows minkowski the file. he lurks around waiting to see how her not-confrontation with eiffel goes, and then cements the thought in her head: what about you? are you going to care?

it’s true that there are aspects of the mission only kepler knows, but as far as information on the hephaestus crew goes (barring one very particular detail about lovelace)? that’s part of the job they were chosen for. when they kill the plant monster, kepler says: “you think we didn’t know about that thing? please. we listened to every log that you beamed down to canaveral.” kepler’s entire foundation is shaken when jacobi turns on him because this is how they operate: “have one person take the blame, say the mean things. meanwhile, the poor, betrayed little guy gets a bit more leeway - just enough to sneak up and hit you from behind.” the show is not subtle about any of this. you can pick apart any early-s3 interaction between two hephaestus crew members and an si-5 agent and see the same divide-and-conquer tactics at play. jacobi and maxwell are always - in morals, loyalty, job description - closer to kepler than they are to the hephaestus crew, and to even sort of believe otherwise is falling for that facade. it’s worth remembering that the hephaestus crew are prisoners. some of them were aware of it from the start, and some of them were lied to, but none of them were meant to leave. the si-5, on the other hand, went up there with a unified goal, and the knowing intention they would be, among other things, prison guards.

[world-of-wales]

The Prince of Wales Carries Out The Colonel's Review at Horse Guards Parade || 10 JUNE 2023

[jonberry555]

M*A*S*H: Henry Please Come Home | Season 1 Episode 9 | Retro Review

[on-a-lucky-tide]

Nik gets caught playing his favourite sport: Price Watching.

cw: sad Nik is sad; pining, wingman Laswell.

"What're you smiling at?"

"Hm?" Nik dragged his eyes away from where the captain was giving his briefing to the rapt attention of the gathered operators to give Laswell the side eye.

She raised an eyebrow.

"He did the thing," Nik said, unhelpfully.

"The thing."

"Da, the thing he does."

"Nik, Price does a lot of things..."

"You know," he grabbed the straps of an invisible carrier vest, rolled onto his toes and thrust his hips a little at the air, the movement rippling up the length of his torso in a perfect imitation of the captain currently gesturing over a map table at the front of the room, "the thing."

She smacked a hand over her mouth to stifle the guffaw and ended up blowing an undignified half-raspberry into her palm. Sergeant MacTavish raised his eyebrow at her before returning his attention to Price's briefing. She glowered at Nik.

"Laswell, that was very unprofessional," Nik breathed, amused.

"That's rich coming from you, I thought I was the only one who had noticed that," she hissed back in the practiced method of a woman used to keeping her voice hushed in the earshot of others.

Nik hummed and let the conversation lapse as John continued to walk them through the jump and intended target. Nik had read the file four times over and already forwarded his questions ahead of time. As they progressed onto assignments, he leaned towards Laswell again. "You are right. There are a lot of Price things."

"Oh?" She smirked. "Go on."

"When he finishes, he will tap the lieutenant once on the chest with a flat palm as he is standing closest."

She shook her head at him, her smile soft. "Nik..."

"I am right, you'll see."

"What else?"

"He blinks rapidly when he smiles. It is..." He trailed off, but Laswell had the creeping suspicion that the word 'beautiful' or even 'cute' had been about to come out of Nik's mouth. "And he twitches his nose before he drinks his coffee."

"Have you thought about asking him out for a coffee rather than watching him drink it from afar like a peeping tom?"

"He would say no."

"To a coffee?"

"Not to the coffee."

"Somethin' to add Nikolai?" Price called over from the front, and the sternness in his voice made both of them snap to attention.

Nik cleared his throat. "Nyet, captain. Only explaining the exfil to Laswell in simpler terms."

"Leave it 'til I'm done, I'll take any questions at the end."

Laswell nodded tightly and then kicked Nik's shin when Price returned to his explanation. "Asshole."

"Da."

"I'll tell him, you know."

"No you will not."

She sighed. They lapsed into silence again.

Nik continued to watch Price with the same open, adoring expression he thought was camouflaged by the crowd of soldiers around him. Laswell had seen that look on him so many times and yet Nik had never tried to progress his adoration beyond pining from afar. She couldn't understand it; they were perfect for each other. Whipsmart intelligence, bloody minded, grumpy in the morning, mischievous, scars behind their eyes... the list could go on.

"You should ask him out," she whispered.

"I am too old for him."

"Now you're just making excuses..."

Someone had the audacity to shush her and she turned to give them the stink eye only to come face to face with the colonel. Alejandro raised an eyebrow and she gestured her apology with two raised hands before turning back to face the front.

She watched as Nik went to receive the written answers to his enquiries to review before the flight, and waited for Price to head off to his office before she approached Nik again. He was studying the note closely, far longer than necessary. "Handwritten," she said meaningfully, her eyes darting over the notes in Nik's hands.

The briefing concluded and Price... did exactly what Nik had said he would do; one pat on Lieutenant Riley's chest as he dismissed the gathered operators to their assignments. Nik raised both eyebrows and pressed his lips together at Laswell in the most comical 'told ya' expression she had ever seen.

"Da."

"You can't torture yourself like this forever, Nikolai."

"Lucky for me that I do not have forever."

"Macabre, even for you."

He sighed, folding his note from Price carefully so that he could tuck it inside his jacket. "Everything beautiful in my life is taken from me, Laswell. My family, my country. If I keep him at a distance, then there is a chance I will not lose him too. Let me have... this."

"This is yearning and agonising from afar while he's oblivious. It doesn't seem like much."

"It is enough."

"There are no guarantees, not in this life."

"This is true."

She stared at him in hopes of more, but he only looked back placidly. "Coward..."

"Da."

She sighed and threw her hands up, exasperated. "One coffee, Nik. What's the worst that could happen?"

"He could fall in love with me."

"Jesus."

This was going to be a project, wasn't it? Well, what was it that Price said? In for a penny, in for a pound.

[carlocarrasco]

A Look Back at Superman #350 (1980)

Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from reading the comic book and doing personal research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised…