"Licensing issues". It's THEIR content!

Click on the comic if you really want to read my ranting on why the BBC is screwing over non-UK Whovians. But before I get into the news, I was going to post about Boom Kids’ Wall-E comic yesterday, but my schedule went off the rails this week with work, family, and tornado warnings, so I’ll just do a quick bit here.

Don’t get me wrong. The comic is well done on both the writing and art sides. The story is set before the previous one, which may be confusing for younger readers. Heck, the only reason I know about it is because I read the writer’s interview in another comic. Giving Wall-E someone to interact with is a good idea, but I’m not as interested as I want to be. Maybe if the series was set after the movie, or this was a back-up/short subject I’d be interested. As it is, and with my limited budget and storage space, I’m going to finish this arc and call it done. However, if you have young Wall-E fans (or young at heart, or qualify yourself), it is a good comic. Just not one I’m interested in.

Which means so far I’ve recommended a comic I don’t read and couldn’t recommend a comic I do within a few weeks. Weird. Anyway, here’s a quick bit of news items I’ve collected this week.

comics

• Denton J. Tipton is leaving as editor of IDW’s Transformers comics. His farewell was printed in this month’s issues.
• Someone actually found people trying to defend DC’s Rise of Arsenal series. The human race never fails to confuse me.
• Swamp Thing returning to DC continuity? Well, he has had movies, a well done TV series and a rather lame animated series, so why not? Well, they have been trying to claim he’s part of the Vertigo “Universe” for how long now? Choose a position and stick with it, DC!
• Speaking of which, they’re still playing race/legacy games at DC. Our next victim? Aqualad/Tempest. Again, decide on your “one true character” versus legacy position and stick with it!
• Big Hollywood contributor Dan Gifford says that superheroes are a product of the times. Four Color Media Monitor blogger Avi Green disagrees with him.

TV/movies

• Only had time to find one bit of info this week. Michael Bay actually apologizes for Revenge of the Fallen and introduces the next villain for the third movie–BW’s official Friday Night Fight go-to bot, Shockwave!

video games

• The sequel to one of my favorite video games, Portal, is going to be shelved for a while. And from what they’re saying about the game, this saddens me.
• IGN.com‘s X-Box 360 reporter had the opportunity to play a demo of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. Sounds hopeful, at least for now. It IS only a demo of the Spider-Man: 2099 level.

in other news:

• This weekend was the “Kids Read Comics” convention in Michigan. Two scheduled attendees, Dwayne McDuffie and Corey Barba, had to cancel at the last minute due to family issues. However, Love & Capes writer/artist Thom Zahler, was a last minute addition. so that’s some good news, and we pray for best results for the McDuffie and Barba families.
• EDIT: Kids Reads Comics has an update page over at Art & Story. This is where you can keep track of what happened at KRC, including a Twitter feed with AudioBoos.
• Bully the Little Stuffed Bull put up a cute comic strip over at Comics Oughta Be Fun. Enjoy “Encyclopedia Bull, Bovine Detective“, and ask him why this isn’t a video presentation.
• Remember back in February when I got to meet Doug “Nostalgia Critic” Walker at U-Con @ U-Conn? Well, here’s the “That Guy With The Glasses” Panel I missed the first half of.
• This Week’s Cracked: 5 Pop Culture Classics Created Out of Lazyness tells you what you might not have known about the Simpson, Donkey Kong, and a certain vampire movie, but what we in the comics and sci-fi circles already knew about Watchmen and Star Wars, and which two in this group are surprisingly connected.

Best Scene of the Week

I’ve got nothing…

Seriously, there wasn’t a lot of competition. All we had was a scene of Batman and Superman beyond flying out and the only city on Cybertron to pay their electric bill. That’s not a whole lot to work with. Hopefully, next week will be better.