“Last time I get talked into visiting the zoo.”
Isaac Asimov’s I-Bots Vol. 2 #4
Big Entertainment (September, 1996)
“Crackdown” part 3 WRITER: Steven Grant ARTIST: Pat Broderick COLORS: Prismacolor LETTERER: Michael A. Palmer EDITOR: James Chambers CREATOR: Isaac Asimov DEVELOPER: Howard Chaykin
Here in America when you think of “idols” in music we think of shows like American Idol, a talent show that brought the talent TV show back to television from the days of The Gong Show and Star Search. In Japan “idols” in music refer to musicians, usually female, that have captured the hearts of Japanese youth. There are even anime about singers rising to “idol” status. Kind of like Jem meets Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi Show, only usually less holograms and only the occasional rival willing to commit insane murder attempts. But the unusual hair colors are still the same.
Viga, host of Viga Loves Comics and a friend of mine from ConnectiCon and the internet, hosted a panel at the 2015 ConnectiCon about idol anime and is now doing a series of videos on The Idols Of Anime. Here are the first three episodes of her new series.
“Ever get the feeling you’re being watched?”
Transformers Armada #16
Dreamwave (October, 2003)
“Worlds Collide” part 3 WRITER: Simon Furman PENCILER: Don Figueroa INKER: Elaine To COLORISTS: David Cheung, Espen Grundetjurn, Rob Ruffolo, & Shun Curtis COVER ART: Don Figueroa, Elaine To, & Gary Yeung LETTERER: Paul Villafuerte
Photo taken in 1976 at Chuck Jones’ office (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Chuck Jones was one of the greatest animators and animation directors of his time before passing away in 2002. Zen Pencils adapted one of his comments on approaching the arts that anyone wanting to get into the arts, whether it’s dancing, singing or painting (or perhaps comic creating?), should check out.
I know I overdue the toy jokes, even when the comic is based on toys, but there are too many here to choose one.
Transformers: Micromasters #1
Dreamwave (June, 2004)
“Destined For Nothing” WRITERS: James “Brad Mick” McDonough & Adam Patyk PENCILER: Rob Ruffolo INKER: Erik Sander COLORIST: David Cheung LETTERER: Ben Lee
It seems pointless to continue a series discussing my issues with Simon Furman’s run on Transformers comics when I’m reviewing those very comics. So this series has been in limbo, at least until I’m all done with his comics. However, we are at the point of War Within: The Age Of Wrath that was never published thanks to one foolish man. Pat Lee.
Lee was the founder of Dreamwave Comics, which was part of Image’s family until he went on his own. It was a one-shot image of the classic Transformers in action as part of a series for Wizard magazine that led to his company to get the license for the Transformers. They made both a G1 based series and one based on the current line of the time, Armada/Energon, two-thirds of the “Unicron Trilogy”. Dreamwave went down before they could get to Cybertron. What happened? Lee didn’t know what he was doing mostly. There were rumors of mismanagement of funds for personal use like expensive cars for his family and other indiscretions. Blaming the “shrinking comic market” Lee closed Dreamwave…and then formed another company. Meanwhile the creators of the Transformers and other titles (by then it was all licensed properties) saw nothing and I’m not sure they were ever fully compensated.
In 2011 Furman sold copies of the unpublished issues of the last miniseries, The Age Of Wrath. He would tell the Cybertron tales while others handled the “modern-day” Transformer tales, usually on Earth but later spread back to Cybertron. I do not have access to these comics but Sol Fury of TFW2005 posted summaries of the two issues that were fully scripted (4 & 5) and the unscripted sixth issue that only got as far as an outline. So let’s see where the series ended up.
One second before realizing his “P” meter was empty and he forgot his parachute.
Super Mario Bros. #1
Valiant/Nintendo Comics System (1990)
George Wildman, Jade, & P. Zorito “Piranha-Round Sue” Bill Vallely, Mark McClellan, & J. Jackson “Cloud Nine” John Walker, Andrea Brooks, The Gradations
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
