Sorry, folks. I didn’t have time to watch anything to make sure it works for Saturday Night Showcase. I have a bunch of possibles thanks to YouTube partnering with big name companies, and I’ve been able to find some fan productions and independent works that sound good (and I’ve been lax on those lately) but haven’t had a chance to actually watch. Save your popcorn for next week because I’m going to try to have something.
Remember the lame discourse around the new hot game Pragmata? One critic claimed men can’t connect to a child the same way women do, lacking a parental instinct. Another said gamers shouldn’t be relating to the game or the support character Diana, the android little girl, because of some rather insulting interpretations of gamers. That’s ignoring the pedo accusations. Well, here’s another example of why they’re idiots. Geeks & Gamers is reporting on a Reddit thread by a man who saw aspect of his late daughter, who died at an early age from illness, in the little girl. Sounds like the character mattered to him and he could relate to the player character rather well.
Since I started doing this article series I’ve learned fascinating origins of songs that I never knew the origins of. Country songs with ties to Norse mythology, bouncy tunes based on European musicals and operas. Backstories that took the sting out of what the subject seemed to be. I learned what “answer songs” are. It’s become one my most personally interesting features to do because I learn such unusual trivia while making it.
This turned out to not be one of those songs.
“Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” exists because co-writer Paul Vance saw his two year old in her bathing suit and somehow thought of a teenage(?) girl being too shy to come out in one. Two year olds don’t seem to be that shy. If anything I’ve seen parents trying to get their toddlers to NOT run around in underwear because the toddler is comfortable. Teenage girls, however, are just starting changes in their bodies and with that comes a bit of self-consciousness in many.
Vance and co-writer Lee Pockriss shopped the song around, getting turned down until offering it to Brian Hyland, himself sixteen at the time of release, which ended up as the single from his 1960 fittingly titled album The Bashful Blond. The novelty song, at a time when those actually got played on the radio during normal programming, went on to be a big hit for Hyland, had numerous covers, and had some guy claim to be the writer up to his death. So while there’s no amazing backstory, there’s still plenty to talk about, and it starts with the song’s story itself.
Of course I went with the homage cover by the comic’s artists. Do you not know me?
Marvel & Disney: What If…? Donald Duck Became Iron Man
Marvel Worldwide (July, 2025)
(what happened to Marvel Comics?)
“Iron Duck Is Born!”
PLOT: Steve Behling
SCRIPT: Luca Barbieri
ARTIST: Donald Soffritti
COLORIST: Lucio Ruvidotti
LETTERER: Laura Tartaglia
EDITOR: Mark Paniccia
Ben Parker, despite only appearing in flashbacks outside of his first appearance, is not just important to the origins of Spider-Man, he might be the most important thing after the spider bite that gave Peter his powers. The ending line of the origin story first presented in Amazing Fantasy #15, “with great power comes great responsibility”, the alleged heart and theme of Peter as Spider-Man, was retroactively attributed to Uncle Ben, a rare example of a retcon done right. When I heard that Uncle Ben was pulled out of Peter’s origin, I thought it was one of those retcon bombs destroying the whole point of the character and why Peter does what he does.
The good news is that Marvel Comics is not taking Uncle Ben out of Peter’s history…yet. Instead it’s the Russo Brothers deciding he shouldn’t be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In a recent interview with the website formerly known as Comic Book Resources, Joe Russo explained what he and his brother are thinking after the multiversal crossover of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
“Spider-Man was one of my favorite characters growing up, If not my favorite,” Joe Russo said in an exclusive interview with CBR’s Sean O’Connell. “And what I related to was this idea of a kid with incredible responsibility, right? And I think you could manifest that responsibility through accidental death, right? And feeling the pressure, and the sense of loss in your life in a way that would keep the spirit that we wanted.
Russo continued: “[But] what Tom Holland is as an actor, if he blamed himself for his Uncle Ben’s death, I think he becomes a very different character. So in our minds, no, he wasn’t responsible for Uncle Ben’s death. That would have been a different interpretation. A more intense interpretation of the character.”
If he becomes a “very different character” because of the actor, then he’s the wrong actor for the part. For the record I don’t have any issues with Holland as Spider-Man. He does okay with the quips and he’s playing a younger Peter who at times is out of his depth with his situation. Part of that is on the writers, but my problems with the MCU Spider-Man, and why I haven’t watched since Homecoming, is the lack of getting Peter’s world and supporting characters right, thanks in part to Sony (who haven’t gotten Peter right since Rami’s second Spider-Man movie–and even then there’s the whole “organic webbing” nonsense) not wanting to risk damaging the character with its iconography if MCU Spidey failed–and currently it’s been the only thing the MCU has gotten praise for. So that was for nothing.
However, to pull Ben out of the origin, and I think we all suspected that since Homecoming, is to show how little you understand about the character. Then again they don’t understand anything else given what they did with the supporting cast, but for someone who claims to have been a Spider-Fan from the earliest years we instead have what looks like the usual “oh, I’ve always loved…” line that usually turns out to be more Hollywood BS.
This is what curiosity got me. Should have learned from the cat.
Stitch! Best Food Forever–Comics Giveaway Day 2026
Tokyopop (May, 2026)
WRITER: Tom Mason
SCRIPT TRANSLATION: S. Hagino & S. Nemoto
ARTIST: Nao Kodaka
COVER DESIGNER: Sol Deleo
RETOUCH/LETTERING: Vibrant Publishing Studio
EDITOR: Andy Rogers
The Clutter Reports (my other site) Atop The Fourth Wall Crisis On Earth Prime Lean Into Artcast Bully Says “Comics Oughta Be Fun” Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery
Cartoon Hero’s Lair SF Debris Four Million Years Later
BW Media Spotlight 