“Come on, do I LOOK like the Hulk to you?”
Darkhawk #31
Marvel (September, 1993)
“Punch-Out On The Intergalactic Express!” WRITER: Danny Fingeroth PENCILER: Anthony Williams INKER: Ian Akin COLORIST: Troy Sayers LETTERER: Bill Oakley EDITOR: Nel Yomtov
So Xizor’s still scheming, Vader is trying to heal himself with the power of anger (which one has less of when the lungs start working again), and the heroes are finally getting off of their butts. I know it’s only chapter 5 of 40 and they’ve been short chapters thus far but this just doesn’t feel right. Let’s see if we can get things moving in this chapter.
“Gotta lay off the extra cheesecake.”
Superman Adventures #4
DC Comics (February, 1997)
“Eye To Eye” WRITER: Scott McCloud PENCILER: Rick Burchett INKER: Terry Austin COLORIST: Marie Severin LETTERER: Lois Buhalis EDITOR: Mike McAvennie
It’s the end of November, which means the 2015 Art Soundoff Challenge has come to a close. In this final installment I give my thoughts on the other contributors–because I’m a critic, it’s what I do but it’s all favorable, but also what I personally gained from taking part in this year’s challenge.
Hey, remember when I praised the previous DC comic for NOT having the typical hero vs. hero battle? Yeah, nevermind!
Icon #16
Milestone (DC Comics; August, 1994)
“Ain’t No Such Thing As Superman” WRITER: Dwayne McDuffie PENCILER: M.D. Bright INKER: Mike Gustovich COLORIST: J. Brown LETTERER: Steve Dutro EDITOR: Matt Wayne(continued from Superman: The Man Of Steel #36) Rift still wants to see Superman versus Icon, so he tries to sweeten the pot. They don’t have to kill each other but if Superman wins Metropolis is restored and Luthor will be fixed to stand trial while if Icon wins Rift will undo the tidal wave he just dropped on Dakota. The two fight for the futures of both cities but as neither will give up Rift decides both variations of the same superhero type have merit and the problem is two separate universe…so he decides to merge them! (continues in Steel #7)
What they got right: The fight is short but good as it isn’t just fisticuffs but strategy involved. In the end it shows that Icon may be similar to Superman but has his own merits and is his own person.
What they got right: Too bad we needed the far too predictable hero versus hero fight to do it! I gave the last chapter credit for only doing the obligatory and moving on but McDuffie (or whomever was responsible for the arc overall) just insisted on having Superman and Icon fight each other instead of trying to work together as they did last time. That’s just a waste, man. I am so over this cliché!
Recommendation: Since we do get a good study of Superman versus Icon’s histories and the whole merging universes thing matters to the rest of this crossover I do recommend picking it up. I just wish I liked it better.
I’d apologize to Californians if I thought any of them were reading this.
We’ve learned of Leon’s time in the orphanage (although slightly exaggerated) so I was thinking this year I’d introduce you to Jake’s family. (I think I mentioned a sister but I know I mentioned a brother by name, Leroy. We’ll finally get to meet him.) Unlike Leon I never really thought about Jake’s past and I know nothing about California that anybody else who has never been to California but watches TV does so I may get something wrong if I ever leave the house. Maybe next year we’ll meet Fizzbin’s people or something? I don’t know, we’ll see.
And since Christmas is coming it means my request for help with the Christmas Spotlight is coming as well. That will be on Tuesday. It will be the last time for awhile that I use the webcam since Monday is the LAST day of the Art Soundoff Challenge. Come Tuesday the Morning Article Links will return to the early morning posting. Monday night will also have the next installment of Chapter By Chapter because I missed that and The Clutter Reports again due to Thanksgiving and the annual Christmas block party we have in town. We’re also beginning the second miniseries of Dreamwave’s Transformers: Generation One production which I recall being better than the one I just reviewed. I hope I’m right. Otherwise, business as usual here at BW Media Spotlight.
Yes, it’s the old logo. That’s what I have in the media library.
Reviews have changed over the years. While originally a brief synopsis of the story and a spoilerless review there is so much media over the years that doing a full scene-by-scene breakdown of things done right and wrong in movies, episodes, games, and comics past are now possible. But for many reviewers that isn’t enough. Jokes riff on the strange parts even if there is no commentary attached, or sometimes to show why that particular story beat is messed up. Deep examination reviews are done by many on the internet these days. I’m certainly no exception between “Yesterday’s” Comic, Scanning My Collection, and the BW Video Reviews.
For some in the reviewing community even that is not enough. They take on character roles and have silly or even serious adventures, celebrating the medium they happen to be reviewing and story types they love. Probably the best of those, and inspiration for many who choose the path of longform continuous tales in their reviews, is Lewis Lovhaug. Known as Linkara, the host of Atop The Fourth Wall has taken time from reviewing bad comics to deal with mad scientists, outer gods, supernatural horrors, and invaders from other dimensions. Probably the most persistent of these threats is Mechakara, an evil version of Linkara’s assistant, Pollo (pronounced as if the “l”s are “i”s; I don’t get it, either), from another dimension who wants to kill every Linkara ever due the poor treatment he received from the Linkara of his dimension. It’s no surprise then, that Linkara’s biggest adventure would feature him once more.
Now Atop The Fourth Wall has popped up a lot here at the Spotlight (and I really need to replace the dead Blip links with what YouTube links I can match them to). He was the first creator of something I reviewed to comment on my site. He allowed me to post his History Of Power Rangers series here at the Spotlight…which I can’t do anymore because Blip is gone, Toei hates anything of theirs on YouTube even in review form, and Screenwave doesn’t give out public embed codes while my host probably wouldn’t use them anyway because WordPress is worried about security and limits the available embeddable sites, while a code is available if the video player in question works with it which isn’t always the case. That was a longer sentence than I intended. At any rate, since Linkara has posted his long-awaited movie to YouTube, in which there is no review–just a feature-length adventure, it’s only right that I bring it to the three of you who have yet to see his work. Join Linkara and his reviewer friends–MarzGurl, Nash, Angry Joe, Obscurus Lupa, and the Cinema Snob–plus his usual allies–90s Kid, Harvey Finevoice, Nimue, and Pollo–in the greatest adventure of his life across the galaxy!
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
