“Full length” is nine pages of 73?
Police Comics#9
Comic Magazines, Inc (May, 1942)
We’re back to the comic that gave us DC’s arguably most powerful of the lesser known heroes. A issue or so ago, Plas asked the readers to push to give him more page time. It looks like he got it, but I wouldn’t call it “full-length”. Still, it means he got more time to give us a good story. Is that what we got, and does it impact the other stories that show up? One way to find out.
Well, I guess we’re doing this!
The world needs another live-action take on a popular cartoon like it needs an empty box of Scooby Snacks. Scooby alone has two theatrical movies, two made-for-TV movies, a direct to video movie that’s just Daphne and Velma…because, and I kid you not…a porn parody. At least one that I’ve heard of. I ain’t researching that #$%$, though I did hear it’s without Scooby. Thank God for small miracles.
Apparently movies weren’t bad enough. Now Netflix wants to do a full series in live-action. I want to say this is the dumbest thing they could do but I live in a world where Velma and the aforementioned porno exists. I could say “it can’t get worse” but I’m too smart to not know otherwise. With it still being produced we don’t know if it will be as bad as Mindy Kaling’s insult but we still have things we need to discuss. In fact, making the mistake of discussing this on X-Twitter (if you call me being called a “retard” in the first response to my post a “discussion”) is what’s bringing us here today.
Not that we are only going to talk about Scooby-Doo: Origins, though it will take up the majority of the article. There’s also some anime style Scooby to talk about, two in fact. However, we know what’s got the internet buzzing thanks in part to the video above, so let’s get into that discussion first. Then we can end on something potentially positive.
“This is the worst place to lose your contact lens!”
Power Lords #1
Oni Press (January, 2025)
WRITERS: Dennis Culver & Matt Houston
ARTIST: V Ken Marion
COLORIST: Andrew Dalhouse
SELECTED COVER ART: Dennis Weaver
LETTERER: Taylor Esposito
EDITOR: Karl Bollers
DESIGNER: Winston Gambro
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It should also be noted how the ads were integrated into the comics in old days, especially the Bronze Age comics I have. Most of the time they were placed where the cliffhanger was, which was meant to encourage you to turn the page. They even had a note at the bottom “continued after 3rd page following” or something. It was more like an ad break in a TV show versus wherever they feel like, which you see on streaming because they don’t coordinate the ad breaks to the show’s ad breaks. That could be partly due to writing for the trade since they don’t care where the story breaks the same way in a graphic novel as they used to for single issues.
It’s back to the prose novels for this article series. It’s also a sequel to a previous Chapter By Chapter book review, but you don’t need to have read that story or review to follow this one. I didn’t when I first picked up our next novel. Years later I happened upon a copy of the first book and then picked it up. This time I’m reading it in proper order. So it’s back to the U.S.S. Enterprise and to previous events on planet Vulcan leading to a new colony location.
There are a few books that explored Vulcan in one form or another. The Vulcan Academy Murders, by the same author, used a murder investigation to explore how Vulcans react to outsiders, most positively but a few negatively. There was also a medical element as it involved an experimental procedure to save a life, which of course killed a redshirt but gave us Amanda, wife of Sarek and mother of Spock, to protect. The conflict may have been personal, but it wasn’t at the expense of the murder story…for the most part. There were stretches when it seemed secondary to the emotional conflict of a young couple–one Vulcan, one human–getting married with various objections and support depending on who you ask.
We’re dealing with the same characters, including the usual crew, but now we’re going more for full-on medical drama. That sets our next book apart from the previous one. If you’ve read either the book or my review of the last book, you know what’s coming. For the rest of you it isn’t necessary, but here’s the category pages for that review if you want to go through that before we get into the twenty-seventh book in the Chapter By Chapter review series…
“These are the best printed mylar balloons we’ve made yet!”
Hardcase #14
Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (July, 1994)
“Transition”
WRITER: James Hudnall
PENCILER: Steve Carr
INKER: Dan Schaefer
COLORING: Moose Baumann & Foodhammer!
LETTERER: Patrick Owsley
EDITOR: Hank Kanalz
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 