Monthly Archives: July 2017

What do you get when you combine GAME OF THRONES with PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN? Probably something tone deaf and incredibly unfocused. Or you might get something along the lines of MONSTRESS VOL. 2. The story, brought to readers from the minds of Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda, continues where the previous volume left off. It expands this unique fantasy realm while including themes of past anxiety and trauma as it explores this rich, lore-filled realm.

MONSTRESS VOL. 2 continues Maika Halfwolfs story in discovering her familys history and the power that lies within her. To complete this mission, Maika must travel across the harrowing sea to theIsle of Bone. Years ago, her mother completed this very same journey. Thus, she hopes to discover why an ancient monstrum dwells within her, and her mothers secrets.

The monstrum, of course, is this ancient, other-worldly force that practically acts as a god of the realm. The monstrum and the Shaman Empress, an ancient arcanic female who wielded immense power that both humans and arcanics covet, appear as key elements in Maikas quest in discovering more about her mother. The authors unveil bits of the deeper narrative, as the relationship of thismonstrumand the elusive Shaman Empress starts revealing itself. It appears nothing is quite as simple as it first seemed, and Maika and her companions still have much to learn about the world they inhabit.

The most striking feature of this graphic novel pertains to the lore. These authors managed to create a dense, immersive world. It doesnt even really resemble anything else in existence. At times, this appears as a disadvantage for the creators. Races and habits of the world are frequently introduced, making it difficult to keep track of the various nuances of the realm. It gets to the point where the authors explain aspects of the worlds history through a one-page exposition dump. These sudden piles of exposition appear in the form of an older cat teaching a bunch of kittens the history of their world. While the page appears visually charming, the sheer amount of text quickly becomes overwhelming.

LISTEN: MONSTRESS has themes of subjugation and slavery. ComicsVerse explores these ideas in this podcast episode!

The art is simply breathtaking. I dont think Ive ever realized how much an artist can affect your reading experience until flipping through the pages of this volume. Sana Takeda makes each panel feel like a carefully crafted masterpiece. It all fits together in such a nice package that its really hard to find flaws with the comic. I like how it resembles Japanese manga in terms of character design, yet feels very much like its own thing. The details of the armor, scenery, and even stuff like the trees are just breathtaking. At times, its almost a shame when you see text blurbs blocking the view of the scene.

The depth of the main cast, particularly Maika and the monstrum, remains exquisite. These are deeply flawed individuals, no question about it. Maika fluctuatesfor me from being too unlikable to extraordinarily sympathetic. Meanwhile, the monstrums revealed history with the Shaman Empress creates an interesting dynamic for why he resides within Maika.

Its also nice to see more of Maikas backstory. As its later revealed, her relationship with her mother wasnt exactly pleasant. Her mother treated her more like a soldier, someone who needed training, as opposed to a child. Its clear that she never receivedtrue love or compassion from her mother, and thus it makes sense why Maika has trouble identifying when those around her care for her. She knows shes different and is fearful for that. She relies too heavily on her own skill instead of accepting the help from her fellow travelers.

READ: Craving the symbolic significance of MONSTRESS? Check out A MONSTRESS PERSPECTIVE!

For these reasons, I grew to love her. I feel like a big part of Maikas character development will come from her not necessarily changing, but understanding she has friends and allies. Shes strong, thats undeniable, but she doesnt always need to be the strongest. Its okay to rely on others, though given how much shes hunted, its understandable why she doesnt.

While the authors have told the readers a bit more about this mysterious realm, they still keep most of it under lock and key. We know very little about Maikas mother, and what exactly the Shaman Empress did, yet at the same time finding out little by little makes each volume feel worthwhile. The entire narrative feels like its building to something grand, something as epic as LORD OF THE RINGS. Relatable characters in such a lore-heavy tale elevate MONSTRESS VOL. 2 to the stuff of legends.

Summary

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Earth-shattering in every way

Exploring the mindset of a character can be tricky, but STAR WARS #33 manages to accomplis

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MONSTRESS VOL. 2 Review: Secrets On the High Seas - ComicsVerse

New York-based Gener8 Maritime (NYSE:GNRT), the $483.7 million shipping and ports company, reported 0.8% revenue decline in the first quarter to $123 million year over year and an unimpressive 55.9% drop in profits to $26.86 million a 21.8% margin compared to 49.1% in the same period last year.

Overall operating expenses have increased by 37.3% to $76.7 million mostly because of higher direct vessel operating expenses, depreciation and amortization and a 73 times rise in losses in disposal of two vessels, Gener8 Daphne and the Gener8 Elektra.

"We are pleased that our 'ECO' vessels continue to earn a demonstrable premium. This is a significant competitive advantage for us, particularly as the market enters a somewhat weaker rate environment amplified by growth in the size of the global fleet.

"Subsequent to the end of the quarter, we made a series of important decisions to provide us significant flexibility to manage our business. The resulting stronger financial platform will serve as a buffer through any extended market downturn and also allow us to be opportunistic going forward. Importantly, we were able to improve our financial profile without diluting our shareholders. In the meantime, following the completion of our newbuilding program expected in the third quarter and assuming no further changes to our fleet, the DWT-weighted average age of our fleet will be 4.9 years, and our VLCCs will have an average age of just 2.7 years, giving us the youngest and most modern VLCC fleet among our public company peers. This is significant as we believe the modernity of our fleet will contribute to competitive operating expenses and ultimately to our profitability."Peter Georgiopoulos, chairman and CEO of Gener8 Maritime

Valuations

Gener8 trades at some premium to its peers but traded below book value. According to GuruFocus data, the company had a trailing price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 14.58 times vs. the industry median of 17.6 times, a price-book (P/B) ratio of 0.32 times vs. the industry median of 1.24 times and a price-sales (P/S) ratio of 1.21 times vs. the 1.14 times.

The company has not paid dividends to its shareholders in the past half decade.

Average 2017 revenue and earnings per share indicated forward multiples of 1.39 times and 32.4 times.

Total returns

Gener8 has outperformed the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index so far this year having generated 30.13% total returns vs. 9.6% (Morningstar).

Gener8 Maritime

According to filings, Gener8 Maritime Inc., a leading U.S.-based provider of international seaborne crude oil transportation services, resulting from a transformative merger between General Maritime Corp., a well known tanker owner, and Navig8 Crude Tankers Inc., a company sponsored by the Navig8Group, an independent vessel pool manager.

General Maritime was founded in 1997 by the now Gener8s chairman and CEO, Peter Georgiopoulos, and Gener8 has been an active owner, operator and consolidator in the crude tanker sector.

As of March 10 Gener8 owned a fleet of 40 tankers on the water, consisting of 24 Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), 10 Suez max vessels, four Afra max vessels and two Panamax vessels with an aggregate carrying capacity of 9.4 million deadweight tons, or DWT, and one eco VLCC new building that is being constructed at a highly reputable shipyard and is expected to be delivered during the second half of 2017.

The company believes it is uniquely positioned to benefit from the recent expansion of its own fleet through the acquisition of 21 VLCC vessels in 2014 and 2015.

As of March, Gener8s average fleet size was 39.5 vessels compared to 30.7 vessels for the prior-year period.

In addition, Gener8 maintains strong relationships with high-quality customers including SaudiAramco, BP (NYSE:BP), Shell (NYSE:RDS.A)(NYSE:RDS.B), S Oil, Exxon (NYSE:XOM), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Repsol (XMCE:REP)(REPYY), Valero (NYSE:VLO), Reliance, Petrobras (NYSE:PZE) and Clearlake, either directly or through pooling arrangements.

According to filings, Gener8s non-U.S. operations accounted for a majority of its revenues and results of operations. Vessels regularly move between countries in international waters over hundreds of trade routes. It is therefore impractical to assign revenues, earnings or assets from the transportation of international seaborne crude oil and petroleum products by geographical area.

Further, the company operates its business in one reportable segment, which is the transportation of international seaborne crude oil and petroleum products.

Company metrics

Net voyage revenues

Gener8 evaluates its performance using net voyage revenues. Net voyage revenues are voyage revenues minus voyage expenses. Voyage expenses primarily consist of port and fuel costs that are unique to a particular voyage.

In the recent quarter, net voyage revenues have minimal change year over year at -0.5% to $121.1 million.

Total operating days

Total operating days for fleet are the total number of days Gener8 vessels are in the companys possession for the relevant period net of off-hire days associated with major repairs, drydocking and special or intermediate surveys. It would be safe to assume that the higher the figures go the better business revenue Gener8 could have.

Total operating days in the recent quarter were 3,510 compared to 2,822 in the same period last year.

Time charter equivalent rates

Time charter equivalent (TCE) rates are calculated by dividing net voyage revenue by total operating days for fleet for the relevant time period. The higher the rate realized could be better for Gener8.

In the recent quarter, Gener8s fleet TCE was $34.49 million compared to $43.12 million in the same period last year.

Fleet utilization (%)

Fleet utilization is the percentage of time that our vessels were available for revenue generating voyages and is determined by dividing total operating days for fleet by total calendar days for fleet for the relevant period.

In the recent quarter, fleet utilization remained steady at 98.6% compared to 98.7% the year prior period.

Sales and profits

In the past two years, Gener8 logged revenue growth average of 1.84% and profit margin average of 23.4% (Morningstar).

Cash, debt and book value

As of March, Gener8 had $143.4 million in cash and cash equivalents and $1.64 billion in debt with debt-equity ratio 1.11 times vs. 0.82 times in the same period last year. Overall debt rose by $473 million while equity increased by $57.3 million.

No goodwill or intangible assets were observed in Gener8s balance sheet. Meanwhile, the company increased its book value by 4.06% year over year to $1.47 billion.

Cash flow

In the recent quarter, Gener8s cash flow from operations dropped by 47.5% decline to $70.8 million. In addition to lower profits, the company had (more) cash outflows in relation to charterers, provision for bad debts, net unrealized gain on derivative financial instrument and deferred drydock costs incurred.

Capital expenditures were $99.6 million leaving Gener8 with (-)$28.8 million in free cash outflow compared to (-)$212.9 million in the same period last year. The company also took in $47.3 million in credit facility borrowings net any payments.

Gener8 also failed to generate any positive free cash flow figures in the recent three fiscal years.

Conclusion

Gener8s overall revenue remained near flat for the quarter secondary to lower company-metric TCE rates realized. Nonetheless, operating days (denominator of TCE rates) increased by 24% year over year thus leading to the reduction of the former.

In review, operating days increased primarily as a result of the deployment of 12 additional VLCC new building vessels since the end of the prior-year period.

In addition, expenses have increased leading to lower profits. Gener8s direct vessel operating expenses and depreciation and amortization expenses rose primarily due to an increase in the Gener8's fleet size compared to the prior-year period.

The companys disposal of its two vessels, about 213,000 DWT in combination, also led to higher charges to profits. These (disposals) were also observed in fiscal year 2016 when Gener8 recorded $24.2 million when it disposed of four of its vessels.

Gener8 did seem to carry a more leveraged balance sheet compared to the year-prior period while still having generated no positive free cash flow.

Nine analysts have an average price target of $7.06 per share 21.1% higher than the share price of $5.83 per share (at the time of writing). Applying a two-year P/S multiple and revenue growth averages followed by a 15% margin indicated a value of $5.7 per share.

Meanwhile, asking for a 20% discount from Gener8s current book value of $1.47 billion would indicate a possible returns north of 100% upside to $12.38 per share.

Ignoring the companys inability to generate free cash flow, Gener8 is a buy with $7 per share target price.

Disclosure: I do not have shares in any of the companies mentioned.

Mark Yu

Attempts to dissect company filings one company a day.

For quicker reading--jump ahead to an article's conclusion.

One company (review) a day keeps the speculation (hopefully) away.

Would typically invest $500 to $3000 of own money per buy recommendation.

"The only source of knowledge is experience"

"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." Albert Einstein

" To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Visit Mark Yu's Website

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Seeking Value in the High Seas: Gener8 Maritime - GuruFocus.com - GuruFocus.com

Six years ago, Playbill launched Playbill Travel with Broadway on the High Seas series, a series of luxury cruises to stunning destinations across the world featuring solo shows from Broadways highest caliber of talent each night of the journey.

The idea was and continues to be that the finest sites in the world (along with gourmet dining and excellence in accommodation) should be combined with the worlds greatest entertainers of the theatre. Rather than the typical entertainment aboard a cruise, Playbill curates intimate concerts, talkbacks, autograph sessions and more with award-winning performers of the stage. Whats more, its a chance to befriend your favorite stars as travel companionsrather than merely enjoying their talents in a dark theatre. Meet guests who share your love of Broadway and the singers who make the music you love.

Flip through the photos of some of the best performances yet below:

Next up is Playbills second river cruise on the Rhine which kicks off August 13 in Switzerland's Basel.

Cabins are available for Playbills Rhine River cruise in August 2017, featuring Seth Rudetsky, Andra Burns,Faith Prince,Terrence Mann, Charlotte dAmboise, and Santino Fontana.Playbill Travel is now also booking Broadway on the Danube River with Michael Feinstein for November 2017, also featuring Carmen Cusack, Julia Murney, Christopher Fitzgerald, Marc Kudisch, Christopher Sieber, Brandon Uranowitz, and Rudetsky, as well as other exciting talent to be announced.

About Playbill Travel: Playbill Travel operates the premier vacation programs for discerning travelers with a shared love of exotic locales and the theatre. The Broadway on the High Seas series has become a hit with hundreds of theatre-loving travelers since its inaugural voyage in September of 2011. Entertainers aboard Broadway on the High Seas and its sister resort program, Broadway By The Sea, have included Patti LuPone, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Christine Ebersole, Tommy Tune, Andrea Martin, Ana Gasteyer, Megan Hilty, Lewis Black,Sherie Rene Scott, Laura Benanti and others. Since its inception in 2011, over 1,000 Playbill travelers have visited over a dozen countries including Italy, Greece, Brazil, Argentina, Russia, Poland, Germany, French Polynesia, Vietnam and beyond!

LOVE THE THEATRE? CHECK OUT THE PLAYBILL STORE FOR MERCHANDISE!

Originally posted here:

From Patti LuPone to Laura Osnes: Look Back at the Star-Studded Performances From Broadway on the High Seas - Playbill.com