August 4, 2016

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Transformers: Generation One Vol 2 #4

In the Dreamwave version of the original Transformers, the Autobots and Decepticons have had no communication with Cybertron. They were also knocked out for a bunch of years in the first miniseries, which is terrible and thankfully not a required except for Grimlock’s plotline which went nowhere under the new writer. Shockwave has united Cybertron, but something is going on. He sends Ultra Magnus to take both factions of Earth Transformers away. Starscream used the opportunity to shove Megatron into deep space (that become important in later stories). However, something is going on, and Perceptor may be on to what Shockwave’s real plan is. Meanwhile, Optimus manages to escape, as do the others who didn’t manage to escape Magnus on Earth, and when last we saw him was knocked out in the sewers with a Sharkticon standing over him.

Transformers Generation One vol 2 #4

“Can’t we just get a dogbot like everyone else?”

Transformers: Generation One Volume 2 #4

Dreamwave (July, 2003)

“War & Peace” is the name of the miniseries/trade collection

“Passive Aggressive”
WRITER: Brad Mick
PENCILER: Pat Lee
INKER: Rob Armstrong
BACKGROUNDS: Edwin Garcia
LAYOUT ASSISTS: Ferd Porlete
COLORISTS: Espen Grundetjerd, Alan Wang, & Gary Yeung
LETTERER: Ben Lee

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Posted by on August 4, 2016 in Yesterday's Comics and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

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August 3, 2016

The Kong: Skull Island Trailer

The stop-motion animated King Kong, battling a...

The stop-motion animated King Kong, battling an airplane on top of the Empire State Building (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Okay, we both know that trailers are not the full movie. And yet when done right it gives us an idea as to whether or not we should see it. So here’s one last trailer before I talk about something else for a change. (Three trailers last week and two this week. I really need to get Chapter By Chapter moved to Sundays or something, but time is evil.) And that trailer is the prequel to King Kong called Kong: Skull Island.

Thanks to Marvel Studios shared universes are rather popular. Movies can have numerous sequels but having a group of movies share a universe is relatively new, although TV has done it before. Look up how many shows crossed over with St. Elsewhere–and remember the show ends up as a fantasy of an autistic kid who has the hospital in a snowglobe. That’s one imaginative kid because I’m pretty sure Civil War didn’t crossover to that many comics.

So Warner Brothers wants to start a shared kaiju universe, but unlike DC is happy to introduce them to us organically. I think. I hear a lot of monsters are rumored for the next US Godzilla movie, although they really should give Rodan and Mothra their own movies first, and save Ghidorah as long as you can because even Space Godzilla isn’t going to survive being a letdown. And of course they want to recreate the classic King Kong Versus Godzilla movie. Skull Island is a prequel to the Kong story we all know. Does the trailer sell me on it?

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Posted by on August 3, 2016 in Movie Spotlight and tagged , , , .

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August 3, 2016

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Masters Of The Universe: Icons Of Evil – Mer-Man

Before my hospitalizations I started looking at the last of the Masters Of The Universe comics (having reviewed the few new DC ones before I lost all interest), this time set during the re-imagined cartoon from the 2000s. This particular set of one-shots takes place prior to the events of the pilot episode, when Keldor (the future Skeletor) was still forming his army to take over Eternia and challenge the Elders.

MOTU Masters Of Evil Mer-Man

“Here’s what I think about your ‘sushi platter’!”

Masters Of The Universe: Icons Of Evil – Mer-Man

CrossGen Publishing/MVCreations (August, 2003)

PLOT: Robert Kirkman, Ian Richter, & Val Staples
WRITER/LETTERER: Robert Kirkman
ARTIST: E. J. Su
COLORIST: Tony Washington
EDITORS: Heather Schneider, Jeremy Padawer, Ian Richter, & Geoff Walker

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Posted by on August 3, 2016 in Animation Spotlight, Television Spotlight, Yesterday's Comics and tagged , , , , .

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August 3, 2016

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Star Wars: Tales Of The Jedi – The Sith War #1

Tales Of The Jedi are no-longer-canon (if they ever were) stories set in the days long before even the prequels as the Sith continue to haunt the Jedi. Before my hiatus I looked at The Golden Age Of The Sith. This story takes place long before that and is the last Star Wars comic I currently have to review.

Star Wars TOTJ The Sith War

“You fools! I wanted this left in the package! The collector’s value is ruined!”

Star Wars: Tales Of The Jedi – The Golden Age Of The Sith #1

Dark Horse (August, 1995)

“Edge Of The Whirlwind”
WRITER: Kevin J. Anderson
PENCILER: Dario Carrasco, Jr.
INKER: Jordi Ensign
COLORIST: Rachelle Menashe
COVER ART: Hugo Fleming
LOGO & BOOK DESIGN: Scott Tice
LETTERER: Willie Schubert
EDITOR: Bob Cooper

Two Sith are taking different angles when it comes to destroying the Republic. Exor Kun is corrupting Padawans (Jedi in training) while Ulic Qel-Droma, pushed on by the witch Aleema who is also his lover, builds a conquering army. When Mandalor and his clans attempt to attack Ulic, he defeats them and brings them into his fold. After conquering a Republic shipyard, Ulic now believes he has all he needs to bring down the Republic, while Exor disagrees. Exor also kills Odan-Urr and takes the Sith Holocron, convincing his naive Jedi suckers that the scientist gave him the Holocron when he died of old age. The stage is set. Who will win?

Not that I care really. Here’s the problem I have. I don’t really know what’s going on. With Golden Age Of The Sith I had some clue. Here I have nothing to go on, except for Odan-Urr and Nomi Sunrider, and I’ve only heard of her from people discussing other Expanded Universe tales. Maybe it could use an issue #0, which Golden Age also had to catch new readers up, or maybe I needed the previous minseries or two, but I’m really clueless here. It doesn’t help that the 90s are going after the art in this comic, too. I can’t tell where Odan-Urr’s eyes are.

The result is I can’t really tell you that it’s a good or bad continuation of the story, only that this is the wrong comic to come in on for the Old Republic stories. Try starting with Golden Age or find some other series to start on. Maybe some fan site has an idea. I can’t give it a proper review but I’m not really drawn to find out either. To be honest I can’t get drawn into this time period, even when it was the only thing going. Good luck on your search though. Maybe you’ll find a better entry point that draws you into this era. I at least like the concept.

Posted by on August 3, 2016 in Movie Spotlight, Yesterday's Comics and tagged , , , , , , .

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August 2, 2016

My Thoughts On (What I’ve Heard About) Shin Godzilla

I love Godzilla and when I heard Toho was making another Godzilla movie, going back to the “man in suit” idea that the two US versions stuck up their noses at I was really happy. After all, Toho is the studio that created the franchise. Surely they wouldn’t screw it up. Also, the fact that Shin Godzilla was getting a more US-friendly title around here called Godzilla: Resurgence I was even happier. Not only were we getting this movie stateside, and possibly with a limited theatrical run,  which we Americans haven’t seen since Godzilla 2000, not counting conventions, everything sounded good.

Well, so much for that. Funimation decided to go with the Japanese title. That doesn’t surprise me because their fanbase are American Japanophiles. Anime is their life’s blood after all. However, I feel Resurgence was a better name for Western audiences as Godzilla isn’t just an otaku title like Attack On Titan. Pacific Rim had a wide enough audience, right? (Still need to see that. Badly.) I’m not even sure what “Shin” means in a Japanese title. The best I can figure based on previous uses I’ve seen, is technically close to “reboot/remake” although I think the literal translation is “new”. How many Westerners are going to pick up on that? You may lose the casuals here, and I don’t think they should be left out. I hate when I have a casual interest in something and is basically told I’m not welcome in the clubhouse.

However, I have heard spoilers from the Japan movie release (we get it I think later this month in limited release), which I will both be posting in this article thanks to our old pal Matt Burkett of Monstrosities and my responses to them. So if you want to go into this movie with no idea what’s going to happen, turn away now and just know that the darker tones I’m seeing in the trailers (everybody super-serious, the orchestral and choir score) aren’t my only problems with this movie. I mean, it looks gorgeous, but cinematography isn’t my primary concern, it’s the story and the spoilers I’ve heard just aren’t working for me.

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Posted by on August 2, 2016 in Movie Spotlight and tagged , , .

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August 2, 2016

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Adventures Of The X-Men #5

Spinning off the Fox Kids tie-in comic Adventures Of The X-Men seems to be an original continuity, following the same cast as the show but with different adventures.

Adventures Of The X-Men #5

They made a snarling Wolverine look unintentionally cute. Who does that?

Adventures Of The X-Men #5

Marvel (August, 1996)

“Back In the USSR” part 1: “Armageddon In Red”
WRITER: Ralph Macchio
PENCILER: Ben Herrera
INKER: Gary Martin
COLORIST: Matt Webb
COMPUTER COLOR: Malibu
LETTERER: Ul Higgins
EDITOR: Mark Powers

 

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Posted by on August 2, 2016 in Marvel Spotlight, Yesterday's Comics and tagged , , , , , , .

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August 2, 2016

BW’s Morning Article Link: JMS’s Comic Future


Embed from Getty Images

J Michael Straczynski, the Filmation writer (fun fact) who went on to fame with Babylon 5 and One More Day (easily two ends of a quality spectrum) recently announced that he’s leaving comics. There’s apparently a good reason he has been late on comic projects like his Superman work, and not producing TV and movie scripts as much lately, and it’s due to now repair optical issues.

Posted by on August 2, 2016 in Comic Spotlight, Movie Spotlight, Television Spotlight and tagged , , , , , .

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