Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog

March 18, 2020: Week’s Best Comic Book Covers! And newsletter update!

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Since many of you have requested it, I’ll be including a daily Covid-19-related news update at the end of each blog entry (for those interested).

For those of you at home, this might be an opportunity to discover a new title, writer, or artist.  If you can’t visit your local comic store, you can order digital copies of new releases, graphic novels, and back issues online.  I use: Comixology 

With regard to these week’s comic book covers – these were my favorites…

1-43

Alienated #2 (cover art by Joe Quinones)

1-37

Aquaman #58 (cover art by Jeremy F. Roberts)

1-46

Archangel #1 (cover art by Jeff Dekal)

1-38

Batman #91 (cover art by Francesco Mattina)

1-41

Batman: Alfred Pennyworth (cover art by Alex Ross)

1-30

Captain America #20 (cover art by Alex Ross)

1-44

Heartbeat #5 (cover art by Tula Lotay)

1-47

Hotell #1 (cover art by Karen Andrews)

1-40

Justice League #43 (cover art by Jamal Campbell)

1-31 2

Captain Marvel #16 (cover art x 2 by Mark Brooks)

1-49

Dragonfly & Dragonflyman #5 (cover art by Jamal Igle)

1-32

Excalibur #9 (cover art by Marcos Martin)

1-33

Iron Age 2020 #1 (cover art by Rahzzah)

1-34

Marvels X #3 (cover art by Alex Ross)

1-36

Red Sonja: Age of Chaos #3 (cover art by Derrick Chew)

1-42

Robin 80th Anniversary 100 Page Super Spectacular #1 (cover art by Derrick Chew)

1-35

Spider-Woman #1 (cover art by Stanley Lau)

1-45

The Red Mother (cover art by Jeremy Haun)

1-48

Unbound #5 (cover art by Josh Burns)

So, which were YOUR favorites?

The daily update:

*
How we respond to this NOW will make a huge difference: https://twitter.com/jeremycyoung/status/1239975682643357696
 
 
Doubling times and projections.  Scary! :  https://www.danreichart.com/covid19
 
How long will this quarantine last?  Possibly longer than 2 weeks: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/18/surgeon-general-social-distancing-not-enough-135377
 
Canada and the U.S. about to close their border to non-essential travel: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/coronavirus-march-18-covid19-canada-world-1.5501240
 
The WHO recommends AVOID taking ibuprofen for Covid-19 systems.  That’s Aspirin and Advil (to name a few).  Tylenol is the safer alternative, but fever is your body’s response to the virus so consider not taking either:
 
Good news.  According to China, a Japanese drug was very effective in treating the coronavirus: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/18/japanese-flu-drug-clearly-effective-in-treating-coronavirus-says-china
 
 
Many regular folks with symptoms being denied testing: coved-19: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/coronavirus/article241270066.html
 
 
*
Amazon hiring 100k employees to meet surging demand: https://blog.aboutamazon.com/operations/amazon-opening-100000-new-roles
 
Meanwhile, Florida Governor refuses to shut down beaches.  Spring Break must go on, I guess: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-governor-refuses-shut-down-beaches-amid-spread-coronavirus-n1162226
 
 
 
This doesn’t bode well.  In Connecticut, 22,000 unemployments claims were made over Monday and Tuesday.  The usual number is 3,000 – 3,500 a week: https://www.courant.com/business/hc-biz-unemployment-claims-20200317-uuiam6g2t5b6pczsouacogzenm-story.html
 
Volunteers 3D print unobtainable $11k medical valves  at a cost of $1, only to have the original manufacturer threaten to sue them: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200317/04381644114/volunteers-3d-print-unobtainable-11000-valve-1-to-keep-covid-19-patients-alive-original-manufacturer-threatens-to-sue.shtml
 
A supermarket in Denmark came up with clever way to keep people from hoarding hand sanitizer. Special sale!  One for regular price! Two for x 25 regular price!  https://twitter.com/_schuermann/status/1239294777452974080
 
History of pandemics: 

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17 responses

  1. gforce Avatar
    gforce

    That plague chart was actually really quite interesting. The Black Death was pretty hellish, for sure.

    Latest from here in NB is that there are a few new cases, but so far they are all travel-related. So, no confirmation of any community transmission so far. The next week or so will really be telling.

    Hope everyone is staying safe out there!

    Reply
  2. maggiemayday Avatar
    maggiemayday

    Penguin is looking mighty stylish!

    Our state’s cases doubled over night. My grand nephew in NY has it, but cannot be tested. I feel crappy, allergies I think, still staying indoors. Well, except for this morning after the earthquake. I strolled out to eye the roof and the gas main. I spent 12 years in Japan, so earthquakes do not rattle me. Well, they do, but you know. I was well north, so no damage other than my Lokis falling off my Shelf of Gods. My friends are panicky, they never experienced this before. Shut the airport for a few hours. A 5.7 west of SLC.

    Reply
  3. Pamela Marrache Avatar
    Pamela Marrache

    Thanks for sharing. I love how you pulled together links to all the relevant information we need so badly. I’m sending healthy and healing vibes. Give Suji a kiss for me. 😊

    Reply
  4. Pamela Marrache Avatar
    Pamela Marrache

    Oops – forgot to ask. I feel stupid, but I want to change my avatar and don’t see where to do it. Help!

    Reply
  5. Dr Z Avatar
    Dr Z

    Guys, guys,
    I know everyone loves a good apocalypse, but this panic is not evidence based, and the government overreaction is killing the world economy and going to cause severe financial pain to many people.
    If you want some real solid information that you can rely on, please read what Prof John Ioannidis says.
    He is the world’s best expert on Evidence Based Medicine, and a guy I always quote in my lectures.
    Right now we need the voice of reason more than ever.
    Enjoy, and don’t panic. And read this carefully. !

    https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.statnews.com%2F2020%2F03%2F17%2Fa-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce9070c661fc14955fb6608d7cb809395%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637201625395547057&sdata=gerXjQ%2B1NmtVCLTjS4V%2Fj0P2KjTAl8M8BbvpLT4%2BqqU%3D&reserved=0

    Reply
    1. Joseph Mallozzi Avatar
      Joseph Mallozzi

      This feels like classic “It’s just the flu, bro” stance. He focuses on the Diamond Princess but, conveniently, makes no mention of Italy or Iran where, because early steps were not taken, the virus has run rampant, overwhelming the healthcare system. THAT would suggest it’s far more dangerous than the common fly.

      Reply
      1. Dr Z Avatar
        Dr Z

        Not at all, he is just stating the facts as we know them, and making the point that the real evidence we have so far does not justify the reaction.
        Italy is an outlier. Check out the yearly death rate from influenza in Italy over the past 10 years ( info readily available on google) and that puts things into better perspective.
        Anyway, still early days, but we should act based on evidence, not panic.

        Reply
      2. Sparrow_hawk Avatar
        Sparrow_hawk

        I’m with you, Joe. Personally, I think an abundance of caution is a good approach and as a high risk person, I’m being sensible but cautious. The economy will recover and, if we are lucky, our countries will realize that outsourcing everything offshore to the lowest bidder is not the best idea and can cause shortages of critical supplies in cases like this.

        In response to Dr. Z and John Ioannidis, I don’t think you can dismiss Italy as an “outlier”. Basing your approach on evidence is excellent advice and is how we practice medicine today, but unfortunately for those living through this, we will only have evidence for this novel infection after it runs a full cycle and the infectious disease experts and epidemiologists look back at it.

        Signed,
        Dr. C (aka Sparrow_hawk)

        Reply
        1. Dr Z Avatar
          Dr Z

          Thanks Dr C.
          I agree with you that only with hindsight we will know the full impact of this.
          I don’t think I ever said we should abandon caution. Equally though, we should critically examine the evidence and not spread alarmist and false data, and we should act based on evidence. The financial pain that will be felt by the lower income population from these measures will be devastating, and must be considered in the equation.
          And, yes, Italy definitely is an outlier, when you look at the better data from the Diamond Princess scenario, Germany, Sth Korea etc, where the death rate is less than 1% ( testing was more accurate).
          We can’t be definite at this stage on any predictions , however.
          Wishing the best to all you Joe Mallozzi fans 🙂

          Reply
    2. Colleen O'Shaughnessy Avatar
      Colleen O’Shaughnessy

      Interesting viewpoints. I appreciate hearing all sides of the debate on how this is going to play out. Personally, I don’t think this is going to be easy to fix or turn out so rosy. We are overdue and under prepared for this virus.

      Only 22 tested in my city of 200k+ and 3 were positive. If you’re a nobody, take your illness elsewhere because our authorities absolutely will not test you. So frustrating!

      As for me, I’m not feeling well, but I’m still here and isolating. No fever, but I can’t get warm. Hoping it’s just allergy season.

      Thanks, Joe!

      Reply
  6. John Avatar
    John

    I looked up (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population_estimates) the world population for several centuries:
    Year 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
    pop. 0.40 0.50 0.58 0.68 0.89 1.71 6.15
    (in billions)
    Looking at the Visual Capitalist chart really helps to put this pandemic in perspective I think. Several pandemics have been much harder on human populations in the past than in recent centuries.
    It wasn’t really easy for humanity to travel far very quickly until the invention of the airplane, so the spread of disease would have been much less in the past. But knowledge of the world has also increased and we know a lot about how pandemics occur. This is completely unscientific and probably erroneous, but it is interesting.

    Reply
  7. Dr Z Avatar
    Dr Z

    Much more worrying than the virus is people being stupid.

    https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2020/03/18/we-need-those-beds-baltimore-mayor-urges-people-to-put-down-guns-after-violence-continues-during-covid-19-pandemic/

    Reply
  8. tamdixon Avatar
    tamdixon

    Cool links.

    Elon Musk has been smoking too many Mary Jane’s. 😉

    I read Willie Nelson’s bio and he talks about the differences in attitude that different drugs gave him. He said Marijuana mellowed him out and Cocaine made him feel like a God. He prefers mellow. 😉 After reading his autobiography, I can see how he became so successful. He’s an eloquent writer. Yes, completely off topic but my mind wonders.

    As for those on the beach, they are mostly Generation Z. When you’re young, you don’t think of mortality. Everyone is making fun of Floridians because of the crowds but I imagine most of those on the beach are from outside. The Floridians are too busy trying to find toilet paper. That’s from my BIL from Panama City, FL. 😉

    I’m glad you took your Mom to get her cast off before this started. Hopefully, she won’t have to get out. I’m sure your Sis keeping her stocked up. She’s lucky to have you and your Sis.

    I had my first dr’s e-visit yesterday. Worked like a charm. No waiting rooms or lines.

    Just an FYI for anyone having difficulties finding meat. Thosse plant based meat substitute makes a decent chili.

    Take care everyone!

    Reply
  9. maggiemayday Avatar
    maggiemayday

    Joe, am I allowed to tell commenters here they are complete and utter morons? That the flu and this virus are entirely different and our genetics react differently to them? This is your blog, I don’t want to go off if you prefer calm.

    I may have gotten myself kicked off Navyformoms already.

    Reply
  10. PBMom Avatar
    PBMom

    Alienated speaks to me this time. Maybe its more a title, but in all seriousness, my life hasn’t changed much because I’m a homebody as it is. My neighbors and I will talk with each other, keeping the appropriate distance between us.

    Reply
  11. gluincth Avatar
    gluincth

    Update from Bavaria/Germany: From tomorrow on you are only allowed outside if you have a good reason, buying food, getting your medicine, helping relatives that need support and going to work (if you cannot do home office). You are also allowed to go outside, but only if you are alone or with your household members.

    And apparently there are “Corona Parties” where people come together and which had to be ended by the police (sigh)

    All shops here should also increase prices for hoarders – clever idea!

    Reply
  12. Neil Avatar
    Neil

    Aspirin and Ibuprofen are different chemicals, as is paracetamol ( I think it’s acetaminophen ? in USA ).
    Advil, Tylenol etc. are just expensive branded versions of one of these may have added caffeine or decongestant too. Better off using Walmart Equate range!

    Most are anti inflammatories and pain killers, and can reduce symptoms of colds and flu including fever. They won’t cure it.

    The Ibuprofen scare was a facebook hoax based on a throwaway comment from some medical expert who said it wasn’t ideal to use with this new virus.

    Hope that helps

    Reply

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