“Magilla Gorilla lied to me!”
The Night Man #9
Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (June, 1994)
“Solitary!”
WRITER: Steve Englehart
ARTIST: Kyle Hotz
COLORING: Mickey Rose & Foodhammer!
LETTERER: Susan Dome
EDITOR: Roland Mann
Technically the roof is clean now.
Yeah, we had quite the blizzard here in Connecticut this week. Way too much shoveling, but luckily we own a snowblower. That’s not why I forgot a Saturday Night Showcase last night. That was from working on this week’s Clutter Report project–which I still didn’t complete–making a chart of all the free livestreaming channels out there. I even list some of my favorite services for those of you who missed the layout of traditional television but had to give up cable and satellite for the internet.
Around here this week, we’re back to one chapter for our look at the novelization of the Doctor Who arc “The Rescue”, and if there’s no news on Friday taking priority we should be getting back to CBS’s failed attempt at putting the Transformers on their Saturday morning lineup. Plus whatever else comes up this week, comic reviews, and the start of a new article series if I have the space opened. I just hope there’s no more snow…there’s more coming? Somebody better dig Fizzbin out fast!
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“Dang it, Gohan! This isn’t the Fourth Of July. Or America. Or a version of Earth where either matters!”
Western creators seem to be about their egos and “subverting expectations” as if it’s some big storytelling tool. They ignore that while it can work, subverting the desires of the audience is not in your best interest. An editor at Japan’s famous anthology manga/comic magazine Shonen Jump seems to understand that, as he detailed in a recent Q&A session. If you want to know what US comics can learn from manga, start with the editor’s statements listed in this article.
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Well, this is news we didn’t expect last night.
A little bit before going to bed I caught an emergency video from Cord Cutters News on YouTube stating that Netflix had dropped out of the bidding war they started by pursing Warner Brothers in the first place. If they hadn’t, David Zaslav would still be working to make Warner Brothers Discovery into a major entertainment company. I heard someone say they legally had no choice but to at least entertain the offer even though until then I didn’t even hear he wanted to sell. I could have heard or remembered that wrong, but it seems like a dumb law if that’s the case. Whatever said case is, this gives Skydance Media, who just recently purchased Paramount, an open run to buy the company themselves. They’re also responsible for the bidding war as Skydance owner David Ellison kept pushing until they made an offer that was good big for Netflix to pass up, Ted Sarantos (Netflix CEO) claiming WB was “a nice-to-have, not a must-have”. Of course, I had concerns when it came to Netflix taking over Warner Brothers, but not the same ones Hollywood had outside of Sarantos’ stated dislike of the theater system in favor of streaming.
Note that as I write this in the afternoon I have not gone over all the various responses online, just a few news reports to get into some kind of loop when it comes to what’s going on. I’ll adjust this afterwards if I need to before it posts or make updates after, but this is my immediate thoughts. There’s still a lot we don’t know because the new party is just getting started and we were just getting used to the old one. I’m delaying the current Friday night article series, CBS Transformers (which surprisingly has connections to this discussion given Paramount owns CBS and is still involved with some Transformers media), to go over the same and new concerns should all the legal hurdles be jumped.
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What could I possibly add to this?
Amazing Mystery Funnies #18
Centaur Publishing (March, 1940)
We begin March of 1940, and the return of our favorite fairground phantom on vacation (but still fighting crime) and the crimefighting centaur. Plus all of those other guys, but I know what I’m here for. Not sure what else to add, so let’s begin.
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Catch more from Serum Lake on YouTube and “The Fear” on my Saturday Night Showcase (if it’s still up)
“The Fear” is one of my favorite Batman stories period. I grew up with Superfriends/Super Powers Team so my perspective is different from the hosts, but I like the idea that Bruce had to overcome his “demons” in Crime Alley, and I like the idea that “Batman” is an outlet for Bruce more than the brooding loner of Burton and more recent interpretations. Super Powers Team did take a few more risks compared to most Saturday morning shows. (See also The Death Of Superman.) West proved he could play a more dramatic Batman, though why he took over and Soule moved to Professor Stein I couldn’t tell you. Filmation took more risks in syndication, and early Fox Kids also took more risks, at least during their weekday lineup, so WB Animation could actually have guns that sound like guns on BTAS and an episode where Gordon was in a coma after being shot. Meanwhile the X-Men couldn’t keep a character dead because SatAM despite being on the same network.
BW Media Spotlight 