NERDS AROUND TOWN

Nerds Around Town: DC Comics, bad movies and Rocket talk

Nerds Around Town: DC Comics, bad movies and Rocket talk
ART BY JESUS RODRIGUEZ

Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!

Hey Nerds!

Monday is where all the magic happens, stay focused and get pumped, this is your week!

GOOD DEED OF THE DAY

This week we'll be honoring First Responders like my buddy Jon Stewart with The Branch Gives Back. A bike ride to benefit the first responders. #NerdsUnite

TROUBLE IN PARADISE?

DC Comics announced they were cancelling Vertigo, their creator friendly line where they got to take big risks with relatively unknown characters and also got some ownership with the characters they created for those stories. Overall it created a massive opportunity for award winning writers to spend time on characters they normally wouldn't be asked to write because honestly, it wouldn't be worth anyone's time or money. This line was responsible for some of the best comic books that DC had ever made and also several movies and TV shows such as Lucifer, Constantine and Doom Patrol. Combined with a recent announcement that DC comics wanted to publish fewer individual titles, suddenly DC Comics was making people nervous and some even thinking they were falling apart. This weekend they announced a massive expansion into the young adult graphic novel area. See Marvel basically owns comic sales monthly usually in both units and money in, and graphic novels too. But in the Young Adult market there is literally no one on the comic book side pushing content into that sector, there are book makers making comics which fans will tell you, aren't the same thing. This is a brilliant pivot for DC, to find an open area to grow revenue and develop more properties while avoiding Marvel. This is how you change a major company.

ROCKETS TALK

So if I'm Houston, I don't trade Chris Paul. Everyone is seeing all the stories and hearing the news about Harden and Paul not getting along and D'Antoni not wanting to re sign with the team potentially because of this issue. Here's the thing, Paul's contract first of all makes him essentially untradeable and honestly, he's an amazing asset to the team. I think Harden's offensive run over the last few years has been amazing, but the truth isn't that complicated, it's not enough. Just like Westbrook's run of triple double seasons wasn't enough to get OKC into a conference finals, Harden alone isn't enough. With this season opening up like it has, it seems like the smartest move is to take one more run at it, just go as hard as possible at it this year. Portland is probably the strongest team in the west this season that isn't named Houston and it's between us and them until either LA team makes a move of some kind. SO I say ride this out one more year and then see where you stand.

MOVIE STARS

So one time in an interview Tom Cruise said that he only has so many movies he can make before he's not capable of making movies anymore so he needed to be selective in the movies he makes. It's a wise way to evaluate films and it's an even smarter way to do business. That being said, how do so many good movie stars make awful movies? Liam Hemsworth is in a ton of bad movies, Chris Hemsworth keeps taking bad role after bad role and they aren't alone. I have no idea who looks these things over, or who tells them yes or no or if they have to do these movies for different reasons, BUT, lots of bad movies. Who gives these people advice?!

NOT THAT YOU ASKED

You know what I love about summer, getting in a pool. So seriously, invite me to your pool parties. All of them. If I'm available I will go to all of your pool parties at the drop of the hat, this is not a drill or a joke. Pool parties all day long.

Feel free to check out my digital short story The Wilson House or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.

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Welcome back, Justin! Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images.

Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander will make his season debut Friday night at the Washington Nationals.

Houston manager Joe Espada made the announcement Wednesday.

“Getting him back is huge because it brings a level of confidence to our team, a boost of confidence that we’re going to get someone who’s been an MVP, a Cy Young (winner) on the mound,” Espada said. “It's (good) for the morale and to get stuff started and moving in the right direction.”

The three-time Cy Young Award winner opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder. He made two rehabilitation starts, the first for Triple-A Sugar Land on April 7 before Saturday’s start for Double-A Corpus Christi.

Espada wouldn't say how many pitches the 41-year-old would be limited to but said they'll keep an eye on his workload.

“We've got to be careful how hard we push him early,” Espada said. “I know he’s going to want to go and stay out there and give us an opportunity to win, but we've got to be cautious of how hard we push him early in the season.”

Verlander wasn’t thrilled with the results in his rehabilitation starts, but he said Monday that those games were valuable in getting him prepared to come off the IL.

He allowed seven hits and six runs — five earned — in four innings against Frisco on Saturday. He struck out three, walked one and threw 51 of 77 pitches for strikes.

Verlander allowed six earned runs and struck out six while pitching into the fourth inning for Sugar Land on April 7.

The Astros have gotten off to a tough start with Verlander and fellow starters Framber Valdez and José Urquidy on the injured list. They enter Wednesday's games last in the AL West with a 6-13 record.

Espada hopes Verlander can be the boost the team needs to get on track.

“It’s good to get him back in the rotation,” Espada said. “With what he means to this club just to get him back on track, getting some innings from him (to) build our rotation with the pieces that we need to move forward is exciting.”

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