Worst barber shop ever!
Ninjak volume 2 #12
FINAL ISSUE
Acclaim Comics/Valiant Heroes (February, 1998)
“All The Marbles” WRITERS: Robert L. Washington & Kurt Busiek PENCILER: Neil Vokes INKER: Mike Oeming COLORING: Atomic Paintbrush LETTERER: Dave Lanphear ASSISTANT EDITOR: Alex Glass EDITOR: Jeff Gomez
We’re in the final stretch now, kids. Thus far Optimus has done nothing because Prime Month hadn’t happened yet, the Quintessons are preparing to invade the universe, and resources meant to watch out for bad guys were used to find an idiot kid with amazing power, so that the bad guys could make their attack to bring down the Earth shield. It’s the final two issues of Transformers Energon that Simon Furman outlined before Dreamwave went kaput. Let’s see if this story would have had a cliffhanger anyway.
“Guys, can’t it be less filling AND taste great?”
Transformers Universe Featuring The Wreckers #3
FINAL ISSUE
3H (Summer, 2004)
INKERS: Vince Russell & Cuhck Gibson ART DIRECTION: Dan Khanna LETTERER: Simon Bowland “Disclosure” WRITER: Rob Gerbracht PENCILER: Guido Guidi COLORING: Blond “Primeval Dawn” part 3 WRITER: Simon Furman PENCILER: Makoto Ono COLORING: Glass House GraphicsIn our main story Apelinq is having second thoughts about their mission since so many of their crew have nearly died. Primal Prime has their next location, but Glyph and CatSCAN stay behind, with Tap-Out joining the team. When they arrive they meet a Quintesson scientist who gives them the full backstory, about their service to Unicron to find Primus, trying to use Primus to continue their usual operations, and the shell program used to control Vector Sigma, which turns out to be the Oracle. The Quints have been using it to trick Optimus Primal’s group into terraforming the planet for them. The scientist, Al-Badur, joins the Wreckers after they stop a horde of Sharkticons from taking him. Primus was able to get past the Oracle shell and get a message to Primal Prime to attempt to stop the Quintessons (and possibly Cryotek, who has his own plans) and the group continue their search for Cyclonus. Meanwhile, Devcon has found him and recruits some back-up because he found the Dinobots alive and well in a bar. Now both teams are preparing to stop Cyclonus and his master.
In the Primeval Dawn tale, Primal Prime is still being repaired while Tarrantulas and his Predicons prepare a space bridge. He allows Ravage to lead the others in an attack on the Ark, while Ramulas mysteriously disappears (I think we’ll see him again in the regular Transformers Universe comics, since he had a repaint in that line). Meanwhile the Vok sacrifice themselves to stop Tarrantulas, leading to a supercharged Primal Prime!
There are also profiles of Apelinq and Ramulas.
Non-Transformers fans (or at least ones who haven’t been following the franchise and the fan base around this time) aren’t really going to understand what I’m talking about here (we’ll get to the regular review in a moment) but something has been bugging me about this series, and reading a summary over at the Transformers Wiki brought it out. Both of these tales seem to be taking sides in various Transformers fan debates. In the first issue Daniel and Wheelie, hated by a portion of the fandom, are killed off (although more heroically than in fanfics). Hate the technorganic concept of Beast Machines? That’s because the Oracle is actually a trick by the Quintessons to terraform Cybertron. Maybe I’m not remembering a split over the Mutant Beast Wars line of two animal modes and depictions of trapped robots but this series has been against that twice. First the Oracle sends them to “heal their bodies/sparks” or whatever, and then they’re torn apart by Sharkticons at the command of the Quintessons.
Then there’s the attempts in both stories this issue to merge the comic and cartoon universes. The Quintessons didn’t create the first Transformers but they did create a slave race based on Primus’s design. The Quintessons know the Vok somehow. And the Vok are a byproduct of the Swarm from the end of Transformers: Generation Two, an idea both head writers of Beast Wars debated. If you like these things, then fine. For fans like me who don’t, well sucks to be us, doesn’t it? I’m surprised they didn’t try to blame Rattrap’s actions in “The Weak Component” on something and take sides in that debate. It makes me wonder what they had planned for the fourth issue. Not that it matters. 3H lost the license in both comics and conventions, and the partnership soon fell apart (rather nastily as I recall) and the group disbanded. As for this issue:
What they got right: The art is still very good and depending on where you fall in the various fan debates the twist works for the story. Vok Prime looks impressive, too.
What they got wrong: How do the Quintessons know who the Vok is? Does everybody know everybody in space? Also, Al-Badur is a walking (or whatever is it Quints do) exposition dump. He just spouts every detail about Primus, the Oracle, and everything else for no real reason at first, like he was expecting them and waiting to push every fan debate button he possibly could. Also, Ramulas is in his Universe colors in the prequel story but still in his normal toy colors in the “present” tale.
Recommendation: That’s a hard one. The writing is good (Furman improved over last issue) and the art is great, but there’s that whole fan debate thing and that’s who this was created for, the hardcore fans. (A much nicer fandom, at least at the time, than some others I could mention.) I guess it depends on where you fall in these debates or whether you care or not. I disagree with them but it’s still a decent comic for my collection. The only issue I’m putting in the purge is #2, and that’s only because I’m keeping the extended version.
Bag End, as used in the Lord of the Rings films. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Did you know that Bilbo Baggins’ contract may be legally binding, or that they went through the trouble of creating Dwarvish tattoos? Did you notice that Johnny Depp never blinked in Dark Shadows and that it wasn’t super muscle control? Or that the most accurate court movie may well be My Cousin Vinny? Or how detailed the LEGOs in The Lego Movie really are? Cracked contributor J.F. Sargent’s look at these and other movies that actually tried to be as accurate as possible.
Your first mistake: messing with Da Bee!
Transformers: Generation One volume 3 #2
Dreamwave (February, 2004)
“Black Sunlight” WRITER: Brad Mick PENCILER: Don Figueroa INKER: Elaine To COLORISTS: Espen Grundetjern & Rob Ruffolo LETTERER: Ben Lee
You know, I actually downloaded a video game creator, decided I had no idea what I was doing, and went back to drawing comics instead. I know where my future is. For others, however, that future is in video games, including some of my Reviewers Unknown pals like TestZero and The Gaming Pixie. Now in comics you’re kind of encouraged to copy others works FOR PRACTICE! Trying to trace over someone else’s work and claim it as your own will get you in trouble. Unless you’re Greg Land. If I were to produce a fan comic of, for example, Superman. it’s kind of a grey area. DC could tell me to take it down if they thought it was a violation, even if I didn’t charge for it and made no money for it. (In fact, considering I went with a free host and not getting my own URL you could say I’d still lose money on the drawing supplies.)
Then you have fan films. Axanar got CBS and Paramount so concerned due to how they crowdfunded the project and got major actors involved like Richard Hatch that they’re currently suing to have the production stopped as a Star Trek project and set some rather harsh ground rules for making a Star Trek fan film, which I’ve already discussed. Other productions not based on public domain works are going to be concerned now. It’s possible that other fan works are going to be scrutinized carefully even if they are allowed.
But what about video games? Pac-Man has been cloned to death, as was Flappy Bird, a mobile game where you try to get a bird through a series of pillars by pressing the screen at just the right time. There’s even a clone of it that came with the version of Android I have on my tablet. (It’s a pain to bring up since it’s an easter egg and I haven’t tried it on my smart phone. Yes I have a smart phone now. Check The Clutter Reports Sunday.) At what point does the line between “new game genre” and “copywrite infringing ripoff” get crossed? Mathew “MatPat” Patrick of Game Theory takes a closer look.
What do I think? If the characters, sprites, and backgrounds are being used then it’s a ripoff. If the code is being used and it isn’t a publicly released game engine then it’s infringement. If the creator doesn’t mind then why should we? This can be adapted to other media as well, but it’s when money comes into play that things should get legal. That’s Paramount’s issue with Axanar and it’s something fan creators should note. It’s okay to love something enough that you want to do your own version, but just be careful not to cross that line. The creators worked hard to invent an intellectual property and deserves the spoils. You can always create something new unless it’s a practice exercise, like my Reconstruction Zone article recently.
Fanart and fanfic is a bit tougher to go over. The lines are all kinds of colors and all over the place. Oh, and check out more game theories from MatPat and the other Game Theorists on their YouTube page.
I’ve already reviewed #13, if you want to check that one out. It’s the one where Snarf rescues the day and flicks his tail at all his haters online.
“Hey buddy, whatcha in for?” “Illegal YouTube uploads.”
Thundercats #14
Star Comics (August, 1987)
“Safari Jo” TELEPLAY WRITER/COMIC ADAPTATION: Steve Perry PENCILER: Ernie Colon INKER: Al Williamson COLORIST: Marie Severin LETTERER: Ed King EDITOR: Don Daley EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Tom DeFalcoYes, it appears the writer of the episode did his own comic adaptation.
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
