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A couple of weeks ago Royce, local raccoon, “borrowed” the silver pocket watch of Ceredwyn, local wolf, after reassuring the wolf that he would give it back in due time. Last Wednesday afternoon, however, Ceredwyn met Royce again in the Rose Garden, and expressed that he would very much like to get his pocket watch back again, as it was very dear to him and he was worried that it would stay out of his reach, hidden under the ancient oak tree, forever. Unfortunately, raccoons being raccoons, Royce turned out to have a small treasury under said tree, containing all sorts of shinies and many pocket watches, but not Ceredwyn's.

Just as the wolf was about to give up on retrieving his watch, which made him very sad as the watch was very dear to him, Argon, local centaur, suggested that, since time tends to fly these days, the watch might have flown up from under the ancient oak and into the old tree itself! Argon then suggested that Ceredwyn have a look, which the wolf did and, much to everyone's surprise produced his very own pocket watch from within the ancient tree!

Being most pleased with the recovery of his watch Ceredwyn thanked both Royce and Argon for their troubles. The wolf was less inclined, however, to hand his watch over to Royce again who wanted to make sure it was really the wolf's watch, and instead tucked it securely back into his vest pocket where it belongs. So in the end, all were happy, and Spindizzyans who lose things in the future should consider looking into the ancient oak first

The ents have struck again! After the attack on SpinDizzy's primary facility, the ents made an attempt at SpinDizzy's most northern outpost which is operated by Andros Verde.

A poplar variety of ent attempted to fall on the power lines that kept the outpost active. Unfortunately for the ent, it became entagled in a neighboring tree and has been lodged there ever since.

A chainsaw crew from the power company will remove the ent from its current location within the next few days. What is left will then be used to make a nice toasty fire.

No picture was available because of the secret location of this facility.

With thanks to Findra for writing the story that inspired this one.

On the evening of January 6th, PatchO’Black Local Jellicle cat, built a sand castle at his beach complex, then using a bit of Neko Magic, summoned a group of Sand Knights on Sand horse and a Joust ensued.

PatchO'Black lowers the drawbridge, and minature sand knights ride out on little sand horses.
Argon says, "Ooo, cool."
Borris chuckles.
PatchO'Black smiles as the sand knights hold a little tournament.
Borris plays the bagpipes as he watches the Sand Knights!
Argon puts on some earmuffs and offers Mavra a pair.
Dingo joins in with a kazoo!
Mavra mmms and put on the muffs.
( The sand knights joust with each other. After a while, it is down to the last two competitors. )
Mavra watches the sand-knights.
Argon cheers for the sandstone knight!
( The two remaining knights manage to knock each other off of their horses. They draw their swords and battle around the beach a bit... )
Dingo wants to eat the loser!
Argon says, "Eat sand? Uhg."
PatchO'Black mews, "They are sand, Dingo. Not good eats."
( Finally, one of the knights defeats the other. All the knights cheer for the winner, then ride back into the castle. )
Mavra leans against Argon. "I think that Hortas might like sand to eat... but that's just me."
Mavra cheers for the victor!
Argon applauds.
Argon stands steady.
Argon tosses Dingo a dingo treat!
Dingo says, "Yay!!! Thank you!"
Dingo happily eats a dingo treat!
Argon smiles.
( A little sand wizard appears on a tower, and waves a wand. Sand fireworks fire off all around! )
Argon says, "Ooo, neat!"

Thanks to Ceredwyn, Andros and Borris who contributed news articles this week. Also Patch O'Black, Gilead and Ba'ar. Nice work, all of you!

Please feel free, if you have a few minutes to join them and send in items of interest. No time? No problem! You can catch up in the next issue of @Action News!newspaper@spindizzy.org!

Greetings and welcome to another edition of the ol’ Four-Kolor Kitty. When you are a super-hero, you have to be prepared for several unique situations. One day, you may be stuck in the past, another you’re archenemy is now your best friend. However, one of the most unusual things that can happen is that you suddenly find yourself changing genders! This time, we will be looking at some of the times when super-heroes become heroines!

One of the earliest cases of a super-hero showing his feminine side was in Superboy #78, in which the Boy of Steel manages to offend a lady alien named Shar-La. She zaps him with rays from her ring, and soon the Last Son of Krypton becomes its Last Daughter! So, she changes her secret identity to Claire Kent, cousin of Clark, and announces to the world that she is Superboy’s sister, sporting oh-so-clever name of “Super-Sister”!

In the end, it turned out that this adventure was actually an illusion created by Shar-La to teach Superboy a lesson about women. Of course, that wasn’t the only time Kal-El had to come face to face with a female version of himself. A later story during the fabled Silver Age period of comics, Superman returned from one of his several missions to space to find the world had changed, gender-wise.

This world included transgender versions of everyone. In the end, however, it turned out to be the creation of Mr. Myxzptlk. Once Superman figured that out, he wraps things up in a couple of pages. However, this story must have been remembered by at lease a couple of folks at DC Comics, because in the current DC Multiverse, Earth-11 is the home of various gender-swapped characters, such as SuperWoman, BatWoman, and Wonderman.

Another hero to find himself dealing with gender-issues is one Guy Gardner. While usually wielding the power-ring as a Green Lantern, there was a time when he was endowed with limited shape-shifting powers, calling himself Warrior. However, one of his more twisted enemies known as Dementor, decided to hit Guy were it hurt. See, Guy Gardner prides himself on being one manly man. So, he wakes up one day to find himself with a little more here and a little less there, body-wise.

There have been a couple of cases where some other shape-shifting characters have taken on female forms, but I think I’ve picked on DC’s characters enough. Let’s go over the fence and take a look at a couple of Marvel’s heroes who suddenly found the need to redo their wardrobes. First, we will begin with that true he-man of a Norse god, Thor. Thanks to Marvel’s fabulous habit of asking the question “What if…?”, we get to see to femme versions of the hammer-wielding storm-maker. First, we get to see what would happen if Donald Blake’s love-interest Jan Forster had found the staff that changes into the mighty Mjoir!

At the end of this tale, however, the hammer is returned to Donald Blake, who is really Thor. However, Jane gets awarded her own goddess-hood. And Odin makes a pass at her! However, a second later story looks to see what would happen of the mutant heroine known as Rogue happened to get a hold of Thor’s powers? Well, first she goes on a rampage, and then eventually become the goddess of thunder, of course.

Lastly, for now, we will look at the case of Walter Langowski, member of Canadian super-team Alpha Flight, and better known as the orange-furred powerhouse called Sasquach. However, at one point Walter died. Then his teammate, called Snowbird, died. Snowbird could change into various creatures of the Great White North. Then Snowbird’s body was brought back to life by a villain, but without a soul. So, to stop their friend’s body from being used for evil, they put in the spirit of Walter. Unfortunately, this meant that Walter now became Wanda.

Fortunately, Wanda was a good sport, and managed to actually enjoy herself as a female. However, as with most changes of this kind, this was temporary, and eventually, Wanda became Walter again.

And that will wrap up this wacky little look at comics. Remember to send in questions, topic-ideas, or feedback to Patch O’Black. Until next time, see you in the funny pages!

Q: Why is it that everyone says "some things just can't be turned good" by saying, "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear"...but it never seems to hit them that you *can* make a silk purse out of the spit-up of moth larvae?

Q: Why do sows nag so much?
A: Their kids' rooms are always a sty.

Q: Why don't male pigs go to see chick flicks?
A: They'd be too boared.

Q: What do piglets do when their moms won't let them break curfew?
A: Swine and moan a lot.

Q: What do you put on a piglet with diaper rash?
A: Oinkment.

Q: What did Oinkliver Hardy say to Styley Laurel in every episode?
A: Well, Styley, this is another swine mess you've gotten us into!

Q: What do you call the best baby swine?
A: The pig of the litter.

Q: What do you call the story of a young sow learning to be a lady?
A: Pig-malion.

Q: What giant robot protects Paraswine City from evil giant robots?
A: Pig O!

Q: Why did the hog lose his money and sty? A1: He fell for a Nigerian email scam and got swine-dled.
A2: He put everything in the hog shop to feed his gambling habit and lost.

Q: Why did the pig put his nose in the stopped-up toilet and pirouette?
A: He figured he needed a roto-rooter.

• Andros yips, "New alliances."
• Austin says, "'Surprising mav reveals Leslie actually PatchO'Black alt'."
• Abbie says, "SED & Kunoichi Corporation have a merger?"
• Darius says, "I'd say stories of adventure and awesome."
• Cora says, "Argon and Mavra will be....'expecting' a new addition to their family."
• Argon says, "Borris becomes a vegitarian?"
• Terry chirps quietly, "My crystal ball says 'answer hazy'."
• PatchO'Black mews, "I foresee Ba'ar asking more great survey questions!
"
• Borris Gruffs, "Borris finally eats a Penguin!"

Got something that You'd like to contribute to @Action News, but aren't sure if You should, or how to do it? Just get in touch with Argon, Skyler, or Findra, and they'll be happy to help! Here are some basic guidelines, though.

Contributing a story or artwork for @Action News is easy! Just send it to newspaper@spindizzy.org, or qmail/pagemail Argon, Findra, or Skyler, with Your article!

• @Action News is published weekly sometime on Sunday.
• Articles received after midnight Pacific time on Saturday may be held and published in the next edition of @Action News.
• Most any type of story or article of interest to SpinDizzy's newspaper readers will be accepted. Generally, we'd prefer things that aren't out and out lies or flames about other folks, and have a basis in the reality of SpinDizzy.
• Things that occur in public areas are fair game.
• The things reported don't have to have actually happened, (any more than anything that happens here does,) but make sure You don't overstep the social boundaries and rules of interaction that we have.

These are pretty broad guidelines, but we expect good sense to apply.

Thanks!

Argon
Editor - @Action News