Let’s make this one quick because I’m under the gun here. The Legion Of Super-Heroes are newly formed…again…and are dealing with their first threat…again. Seriously, I’m glad I never got into that series because it’s been rebooted more times than the rest of the DC Universe, and that’s too many to begin with.
I know I’ve missed quite a few this tournament. I’ve been sick. At least it’s not as bad as last year, right? 🙂
It burned most of that fuel trying to escape my old filing system.
Our Spaceship Earth–Needs More Fuel!
Gulliver Publications (1977)
There are no credits given because this isn’t your typical comic. If you see it in a comic store and are curious what it is I’ll make it easier for you. There are no characters, there’s no story, and it’s all caption boxes and images. This is a PSA comic produced by Gulliver for use by various local energy companies. (Here in Connecticut that was Northeast Utilities at the time. Your state may have something different.) They produced a number of these things, some of which actually had characters and I may well bump into more eventually. So what is it?
Tick (comics) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In preparation for the new live-action Amazon Prime (why not cartoon?…I thought the last cartoon was better than the last live-action TV show), a new The Tick comic is coming out. I don’t care about the show, but at least there are more Tick comics coming.
Samus Aran, the hero of the Metroid franchise. No, this isn’t the theory I teased. I think yesterday’s commentary used up my mind limits but it had to be said. Instead I’m bringing you a theory from the web series Gnoggin that suggests Samus Aran’s post traumatic stress disorder, as suggested in other media, may actually contribute to her ability to handle the space pirates, Metroids, and self-aware parasites she’s dealt with over the many games and consoles. Personally I’ve never had time to play the games (or had access to most of the systems, just the NES and Game Boy) but it’s an interesting look at the lady warrior. And no Justin Baliey to be seen.
The school field trip took a surprising turn.
Transformers: Infiltration #3
IDW Publishing (March, 2006)
WRITER: Simon Furman
ARTIST: E. J. Su
COLORIST: John Rauch
SELECTED COVER ART: James Raiz
LETTERER: Tom B. Long
EDITORS: Chris Ryall & Dan Taylor
From the first season of Super Friends (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
While looking over some other articles on Mark Evanier website after yesterday’s look into mascot characters, I came across this article about how DC re-edited, drastically, Alex Toth‘s cover of a collection of Super Friends comics that tied into the show. Toth was one of Hanna-Barbera’s best designers and did work at DC. He also did the character designs for Super Friends. Granted, they didn’t have photo editing programs at the time but this just seemed like a lot of unnecessary work to replace something good for no reason. Toth’s art was just fine as is and part of the reason I’m posting this is that Toth doesn’t get enough recognition for his work in comics and TV.
pictured: a bad representation of what some people think Snarf is.
This is something I’ve been meaning to write about for years, but having to suffer through issue #3 of Thundercats: Hammerhand’s Revenge today just really drove the point home and I have to get this out of my system. The hatred of the “mascot character” (sometimes also called the “kiddie character”) is getting old. Rip Van Winkle old.
Look, I get it. Kids can handle more than some adults think, but at the same time there are limits, and what both sides of the argument forgets is that kids are individuals. Some can handle more than others. I also get that there are people out there who don’t believe in comic relief characters because they think everything needs to be dark and intensive the entire movie, especially in something not geared for kids. (And there’s that small group who I swear thinks “for kids” equals “I have to like it too but my sister won’t flip out if I show it to their kids”.) And there are plenty of comic reliefs who are just annoying, like any character Rob Schneider has ever played. (And yet somehow he gets to be the main character in stuff.) I’ll even be coping to mascots who just aren’t very good near the end of this commentary, which went way longer than planned. However, I want to take some of those mascots you all hate and explain why they’re actually good characters. Because characters evolve over time, even in shows without a continuous story, because the character serves a purpose on the team, and sometimes because of both. Remember, the Doctor of Doctor Who didn’t start out as the champion of the weak and defenseless. In his first storyline he was ready to kill a wounded man by smashing his skull in with a rock even though he wasn’t a threat to him or his kidnapped companions. Which HE kidnapped. Characters do get better, but it’s the early years that seem to cause a lot of bias.
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
