NERDS AROUND TOWN

Nerds Around Town: The Mandalorian, Thanksgiving and Undercity Tales

Cory De La Guardia
Nov 25, 2019, 6:36 am
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!

GOOD DEED OF THE DAY

This is one of the best charity ideas I've heard yet. It's called "Let's Bring 'Em Home" and the charity buys tickets for soldiers in the Armed Forces and flies them home from overseas. Nerd Thug Radio and The Adventure Begins Comics, Games and More will be holding an event to benefit these guys on December 13th. The Nerd Thug Takeover of Adventure Begins will happen starting at 6pm and on December 13th and all proceeds from sales will go to benefit "Let's Bring 'Em Home".

UNDERCITY TALES

Undercity Tales is a great Kickstarter success story. Mike Tener is a guy I found when he was running a crowdfunder for Black Jackets earlier this year. At the time I talked about that project and had him on the radio show to talk about it, it was a success and it was also a great project overall, one of my favorite this year. Undercity Tales was his next project and I recently got my copy of it in the mail, and it only continues his successful run of work. Created and produced by him, it tales a story written by Scott Wilke with art by Brian Balonado, colors by Bryan Arfel Magnaye and Letters by Matt Krotzer. Everyone does a great job and it's a great single issue story to introduce you to the world Tener's created. The story is a single issue murder mystery and it doesn't disappoint, tons of great characters with an interesting story, there's a bit of a pacing issue in the beginning as they rush you through the early details of a murder mystery that in a regular Law and Order episode would take a little longer, but overall it uses the saved pages to give a better finale to the story. Very much worth the read and whatever is coming next from Mike Tener is worth reading, because in my book he's 2/2 on awesome first issues.

THE HOLIDAYS

This time of year for a lot of people brings up complicated feelings and bad memories. Not everyone loves the holidays as much as they could and that's because of things that might've been out of their control as well. Check on your people, say nice things and be there for each other because as unexcited as you are for the in-laws to visit, they're even more unexcited for even the day on the calendar and all the focus on holidays and family and all of that. No matter what they turn off or tune out, something else is rubbing this time of year into their faces and that's a problem for them, so just make sure your people are ok for the holidays.

THE MANDALORIAN

Honestly, this show is great. This is what I've always talked about when I talked about how interesting the Star Wars Universe was but it was being crowded with conversations about Luke Skywalker kissing his sister. There was more to this universe than just the Skywalker family and this is exactly the kind of story I'm talking about. A mercenary trying to do right by his people finds a higher calling when asked to do the unaskable, kill a baby. You have to check this show out if you haven't and it's worth the $12.99 for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.

NOT THAT YOU ASKED

This week I got to do something SUPER cool and had my first event as Cory de la Guardia the comic book creator. It was a signing at Space Cadets Collection Collection on local comic shop day and it was very cool. I made a few new friends/fans and helped them sale a couple copies of my book, it was a very cool experience and I would like to thank Jen King for helping make it happen.

Feel free to check out my brand-new comic book Another Day at the Office 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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HIGH HOPES

How the Houston Astros respect level just went up a notch

This year, the Astros are favored to win the World Series. Composite image by Brandon Strange.

When the umpire yells "play ball!" on Thursday for Astros opening day, three players- a full third of their batting order - will be missing from their opening day lineup from last year when, oh yeah, they won the World Series. Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley are on the injured list and Yuli Gurriel effectively was told good luck in your future endeavors. Other notables from last year no longer with the Astros: Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, Aledmys Diaz, Christian Vasquez, and Jake Odorizzi.

That's on top of the Astros in recent years saying goodbye to All-Stars Gerrit Cole, George Springer, Carlos Correa and Charlie Morton. Don't underestimate Morton's contribution when he pitched for the Astros in 2017-18. He went 29-10 and won Game 7 of the 2017 World Series, that's all.

And while the team keeps on winning at a historic pace, all these injuries and departures are going to catch up to the Astros one of these years.

But this ain't the year. The Astros demolished baseball last year, winning their division by 16 games and roaring through the postseason going 11-2, including sweeps of the Mariners and Yankees.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have the Astros as the (+600) preseason betting favorite to repeat as World Series champs in 2023, followed by the New York Yankees (+650), Los Angeles Dodgers (+750), New York Mets (+750), Atlanta Braves (+1000) and San Diego Padres (+1000).

It's a different scene from 2022 when the Dodgers, Braves, Yankees and even the Toronto Blue Jays all were preseason favorites over the Astros to win the World Series. In other words, Mattress Mack will load up on the Astros again this season and hopefully visit the pay window again. He just may not get the gross national product, all-time payout he got last year. Poor guy. Mack's already put down $1.9 million on the Astros, a commitment that's likely to increase as the Astros plow through the season.

The over/under wins total for the Astros is 95.5. That's a good number for an FM radio station, but the Astros should blow by that total in mid-September. The Astros won 106 games last year, and at least 100 wins in four of the last five full seasons. I wonder if Mack has room in his car for next time he drives to Louisiana to make a bet. I call shotgun!

While Altuve and Brantley sit on the wounded list Thursday, and Gurriel is wearing a Miami Marlins uniform, one thing will be the same as Opening Day last year. Framber Valdez, the Astros' quality start machine, will be on the mound against the Chicago White Sox at Minute Maid Park. The game will start at 6:08 p.m., airing on ESPN. Get there early to watch the Astros unfurl another World Series banner. Remember that AT&T SportsNet gets benched when ESPN does an Astros game. Bummer. Blummer. ESPN also has the April 16 game against the Rangers and the April 30 rematch with the Phillies.

How did Valdez perform Opening Day 2022? As it would turn out all season, typical Valdez: 6.2 innings, no runs, only two unproductive hits, one walk, six K's and he got the W. Final score:, Astros 3, Los Angeles Angels 1. Valdez started, got the win, Pressly pitched the ninth, got the save. Sound familiar? Lather, rinse, repeat. The opposing pitcher that game - some under-publicized fellow named Shohei Ohtani. It wasn't Ohtani's day. While he pitched ok, surrendering four hits and one run over 4.1 innings, he took the loss. Ohtani also went 0-4 at the plate.

The Astros won Game 2 of that series, 13-6, behind Odorizzi and a battalion of relievers. The Angels exacted revenge in Game 3, a 2-0 shutout with Noah Syndergaard starting. Verlander, despite giving up only one run over five innings, absorbed the loss.

Of course games will look different this season with no infield shift, bigger bases and a pitch timer. The only thing that will look the same - the standings. Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez will salivate when they don't hit screamers through the infield only to be thrown out by second basemen playing short right field. Altuve's fractured thumb should heal in time for the future Hall of Famer to return in early June. Brantley could be back in May. Lance McCullers is anybody's guess, but time heals all wounds, including elbows.

The Astros are riding a dynasty-level of success, you know the numbers, six consecutive postseason appearances (only team in MLB history to win a postseason series six straight seasons), six ALCS appearances in a row, four World Series appearances, two championships.

There's no reason to stop now.

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