I’ve been questioning some of DC’s actions myself these past few years.
The Batman & Robin Adventures #21
DC Comics (August, 1997)
“Why Is A Raven Like A Writing Desk?”
WRITER: Ty Templeton
PENCILER: Joe Staton
INKER: Terry Beatty
COLORIST: Lee Loughridge
LETTERER: Tim Harkins
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Darren Vincenzo
EDITOR: Scott Peterson
ICv2 contributor Milton Griepp compares the two DC relaunches, the darker “New 52” and the more classic “Rebirth”, to see which is doing better.
Another spoiler posted on the cover, and that cover is essentially a pin-up. That’s a double-fail, DC!
Aquaman #0
DC Comics (October, 1994)
“A Crash Of Symbols”
WRITER: Peter David
PENCILER: Martin Egeland
INKERS: Brad Vancata & Howard M. Shum
COLORIST: Tom McCraw
LETTERER: Dan Nakrosis
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Eddie Berganza
EDITOR: Kevin Dooley
And both me and my cousin survived. That’s a reason to be optimistic. Then again, Leon isn’t the optimistic host.
I know there WERE good things that happened in 2016. I just wasn’t available for most of it, so the traumas are what I remember. Not the lost celebrities but the almost lost me. Yeah, remember when I talked about that blood clot that broke from my leg and went near my lungs? I was mostly shaking that off until they released Garry Shandling’s cause of death….which was that very thing! So I’m kind of shaken up by the whole thing, as I was lucky to have only passed out. Twice. Then you have the cousin mentioned above, who was swimming with some friends and fell on some rocks while using a rope swing. He cracked his skull open, and some other kid around that time apparently died from that. And yet my cousin survived the initial event, the very dangerous surgery to reattach his skull months after having to wear a helmet while the pressure was taken off his brain, and now is back to being himself. Having an aunt who is a speech therapist probably helped, but I saw him at Christmas Eve and you wouldn’t know he went through that. Yes, I’m sorry about what happened to Carrie Fisher, and her mom, Debbie Reynolds days later, and my heart goes out to Tod Fisher, the surviving brother and son, but the people mentioned in the comic are the ones who have the biggest influence on my life and I’m more concerned about them, and at the risks of sounding self-important (which is hard for a guy with low self-esteem to do) myself. I’m praying for 2017 to be a hospital-free year for everyone I personally love and care about, and if God got my cousin and I through this I know he can do anything.
Back to business, though. I’ve got more work to do with the late Christmas review and if I didn’t tease the subject in my ignored help request video for Christmas spotlight I’d probably write it off. I kind of feel committed to the review now, and I want to get out a video review a month. Hopefully even with four articles a day (two on weekends), the weekly comic strip, and the clutter-cleaning project plus other things I have to do in live I can at least make that goal. I also want to really get stuff done on Patreon in the hopes of getting some patrons. Even I get the disability I’d rather get paid for my projects, or at least have some supplemental income to get better equipment and training.
The comic reviews return this week, and only Mobile Police Patlabor and Transformers: Generation One left us on cliffhangers. We’ll also start working on the post-Zero Hour DC Universe, a soft reboot that wouldn’t be necessary if DC knew what they were doing. Then again, I don’t know who to point to as an example since Marvel finally caved to the soft reboot with the whole Secret Wars redux nonsense. At least Rebirth was a new (and I hear better) direction for the DC Universe. That doesn’t mean you can’t get good stories out of it, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy with DC’s rebooting and as our old pal TJ Omega stated, it makes it hard to care about a universe that will be thrown away in five years.
So here’s to 2017. May you not repeat the sins of 2016.
The video review will be next week unless something else goes wrong. So let’s talk video games!
Like it or not, video games have earned a spot within the realms of media. What started as simply play has gone to become experiences that are impossible in real life. Video games are a target because they’re the newest media and someone has to find something wrong with it. This will probably continue until the next big media source, as happened to movies (and I’ll bet radio in the audio drama days), comic books, and television. Nobody complains about those anymore (despite how dark, sexual, and violent some of those medias are becoming) and the only result seems to be these media sources, including video games, leaving kids behind and thus leaving them with only books, the one media that still openly embraces the young while still creating media or other and in some cases a combination of age groups. You know, what we like to call “all-ages”, but for certain parties who want to look grown-up….
I’m going to keep using it as long as they keep acting like that. Besides, Cheerios are great!
One thing about media is that sometimes they can go beyond entertainment, and affect lives for the better. The negative tends to get more press, but the gang at Extra Credits decided to ask their audience to tell tales of video games changing their lives in positive ways. The three they chose are amazing stories, the last one which putting the garbage I’ve been through this year to shame. His tale is nothing short of miraculous but the two that precede it are also worth seeing. I said I’d end this year on a high note and these stories are it!
Thus proving “it’s the thought that counts” can depend on the thought.
Garfield #32
Boom Studios/Kaboom (December, 2014)
COVER ART: Andy Hirsch
LETTERER: Steve Wands
DESIGNER: Kara Leopard
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Chris Rosa
EDITOR: Rebecca Taylor
GROUP EDITOR: Shannon Watters
“Elf Esteem”
WRITER: Mark Evanier
ARTIST: Andy Hirsch
COLORIST: Lisa Moore
“Nermal And The Three Bears”
WRITER: Scott Nickel
ARTIST: Lissy Marlin
As a heads-up, getting myself into video-making after pushing to get the comic done is harder than I thought. But look at the year I’ve had. Motivation, as mentioned during Art Soundoff, has been an issue. It will be done, though. I’m at least motivated that way. It’s just the holidays are tough right now. The week after the first Christmas without my mom (2015) is when I got sick, leading to all the medical issues I had in 2016. So I’m a little wary and my Christmas spirit is a bit on the low side.
But at least I don’t have a supervillain trying to ruin Christmas by messing with everyone’s emotions. The good news for Psycho-Pirate is that he doesn’t have to worry about Captain Yuletide. The bad news is that he still has to deal with Batman. He was better off with the magic super elf.
I missed round six because Christmas is not a time to fight. Christmas is over, so bring on the fisticuffs!
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
