Other Reading About Telepathy

We saw here that a telepath who can read only surface thoughts talks to a prisoner in order to bring associations into his conscious mind.

Thus, we read, in a book received as a present today:

D'jinn, disguised as a slave girl: Gather all who serve Yussuf's ascendancy together tonight for an important meeting.

Sidi Nouman: Is that wise? In the past we've never congregated more than two or three at a time. Those were always Yusuf's orders.

D'jinn: No Matter. I simply needed to ascertain the fullness of the list which appeared in your mind the moment I inquired of them.
I've captured it complete, and so you are of no further use to me, Sidi Nouman, famous abuser of horses.
-Bill Willingham, Fables: Arabian Nights (And Days), (Burbank, CA, 2006), p. 59, panels 5-6.

A Fictional Language II

See A Fictional Language.

I know that some people are elaborating Klingon (see image) so maybe they are way ahead of us here. Let me just try to demonstrate some more of Alan Moore's ingenuity.

p. 14, panel 4
Alanna: D-duss maol olt? Fao Adam AEL? (How is he? Will Adam be well?)

Sardath: Sa. Adam fao ael. Qu dral ol VIER, tertel bu. (Yes. Adam will be well. You can see him...)

p. 14, panel 5
Alanna: Iu, Sardath-cho, Ba ONAMAO qu! (Oh, Sardath. I love you!)
Sardath: Ba onamao QU emsec, Alanna. (I love you too, Alanna.)

p. 15, panel 1
Alanna: ADAM! Iu, onamaol bu... (Adam! Oh, love they...)

p. 15, panel 3
Alanna: Qu fao zon ililoc huls CHECHEDOR Rann, di tomta ILIOCTIBANI. Olf fao doh rette RANN leps THANAGAR. (You will be able to talk to the new Ambassadors to Rann, during the Conference/negotiations. They will (or have?) come to Rann from Thanagar.)

p. 15, panel 4 
Adam Strange: THANAGAR? THOM KATAR HOL? (Thanagar? Not Katar Hol?)

Alanna: Tho. Thom KATAR HOL ool SHAYERA. Olf fao HAKKESTRANG! (No. Not Katar Hol or Shayera. They are (will be?) Hawkpeople!)

p. 16, panel 1
Keela Roo: Ael, Sardath-chat. Ol wa ililoc THANAGARRU wo? <... (It is well, Sardath. Should we speak Thanagarru?) (Her Thanagarru is represented by < and by similar signs which are not on my keyboard.)

p. 16, panel 2
Sardath: ADAM-CHI! Ol fa aeli qu fao ael! Olf fao KEELA ROO ep SCIRA EK, checheder leps THANAGAR... (Adam! It is good that you are well! These are Keela Roo and Scira Ek, ambassadors from Thanagar...)
Keela Roo: < etc.

p. 16, panel 3
Keela Roo: ...absorbacon-linked translator should simplify the discussions.
(She holds a glowing pyramid which emits the sound "Veep" as it makes everyone present understand everyone else's speech.)

p. 17, panels 5-6
Adam Strange, speaking while running beyond the range of the absorbascon: Yes, yes. It's okay. I know... "It's a dirty job... (VEEP!) ...claab APOCHAN masraut fao ol!" (Give it to the ape man.) (Or something like that.)

p. 28, panel 2
Adam Strange: Lam TALSA, Keela Roo. Qu glispi SARN. (Good morning, Keela Roo. You look "sarn.")
Keela Roo: Lam Talsa, Adam Strange. Bas Hakkestrange ETHMET glispi sarn. (Good morning, Adam Strange. But Hawkpeople always look "sarn.")

p. 28, panel 3
Keela Roo: Ba murrn ililocta-unulacon bu... (VEEP)... so that we may talk more easily.

p. 34, panel 3
Alanna: ADAM? Voryegger ilioc INGLISH? (Adam? The monster speaks English?)
Adam Strange: Uh, tra. Ol utu "SMALSH-YEGGER," aps URTH. (Uh, yes. He was "Swamp Thing" on Earth.

p. 35, panel 6
Alanna: ADAM? Duss ililoc qu ap Smalsh-Yegger? (Adam? What are you talking about with Swamp Thing?)

p. 36, panel 1
Adam Strange: Ep URTH, epo GOTHAMAGAR, Smalsh-Yegger faor lurshastrang. Fao ol lurshastrang ep RANN? (On Earth, in Gotham City, Swamp Thing made vegetation. Will he make vegetation on Rann?)

p. 36, panel 2 
Alanna: Mamoon. Iu, Smalsh-Yegger, MAMOON. (Please. Oh, Swamp Thing, please.)

I am starting to decipher more but enough is enough. One sentence of Planha in Poul Anderson's "Lodestar" has made me revisit and re-appreciate Alan Moore's Rannian dialogue.

The Structure Of A Series: The Boys (90 Monthly Issues)

I: The Name Of The Game (1-6)

II: Get Some ("Get Some," 7-10; "Glorious Five Year Plan," 11-14)

III: Good For The Soul ("Good For The Soul," 15-18; "I Tell You No Lie, G.I.," 19-22)

IV: We Gotta Go Now (23-30)

V: Herogasm (miniseries, 1-6)

VI: The Self-Preservation Society ("The Self-Preservation Society," 31-34; "Nothing Like It In The World," 35-36, "La Plume De Ma Tante Est Sur La Table," 37; "The Instant White-Hot Wild," 38)

VII: "What I Know," 39; "The Innocents," 40-43; "Believe," 44-47)

VIII: Highland Laddie (miniseries, 1-6)

IX: The Big Ride ("Proper Preparation And Planning," 48-51; "Barbary Coast," 52-55; "The Big Ride," 56-59)

X: Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker (miniseries, 1-6)

XI: Over The Hill With The Swords Of A Thousand Men (60-65)

XII: The Bloody Doors Off ("The Bloody Doors Off," 66-71; "You Found Me," 72)

Good Omens

Good Omens is a TV series by Neil Gaiman based on a prose novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman so it is not comic-related except that Gaiman wrote comics. However, the cartoon credits and even the visuals with live actors generate a comics feel.

A former Doctor Who acts so well as a hip demon that he is scarcely recognizable.

Is the Antichrist necessary for Armageddon? Demons can break the rules. See "James Blish And The Antichrist," here.

The Time Travel Problem In Avengers: Endgame III

See here.

Andrea argues that:

the characters time travel from the present of Reality A to the past of Reality B and return to the present of Reality A;

Thanos follows some of the heroes from the past of Reality B to the present of Reality A;

therefore, the only discrepancy is that, if Rogers remained in the past of Reality B, then he should have aged into the present of B, not A.

I think it also follows that Thanos' disappearance from Reality B prevents V in B?

New Swamp Thing TV Series

In this version, there was something going on in the swamp even before Alec Holland got to it.

He says that he has seen an alien autopsy.

Some of the characters have the same names but they are not the same characters, particularly not Abby. Are Anton and Gregori going to show up?

The Cainites

I missed a point in the previous post about "Cain." On the very next page in Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Season Of Mists (New York, 1992) -

Lucifer: Cain. You must know of the Cainites?
Cain: Can't say that I do...
Lucifer: Gnostic sect. Second century. They rejected the books of the New Testament in favor of the Gospel of Judas.
-page 49, panel 1.

Lucifer: They believed that we created the heaven and the earth, and that you were the persecuted party in that unfortunate affair with your brother. They also held that the way to salvation was to give way to lust and temptation in all things.
-panel 2.

Lucifer: And no greater percentage of them turned up here than of any other religion. Amusing, isn't it?
Cain: I wouldn't know.
-panel 3.

The Wikipedia article on Cainites mentions this issue of The Sandman as a popular cultural reference.

Now maybe it is time to return to Poul Anderson's very different Cainites?