Classic and new Christmas specials and longer videos. See what I add all year and see if one of your favorites is on the list.
The year: 2008. After having been stuck home with inflammation from Crohn’s Disease I discovered blogging. People actually thinking about storytelling the same way I did, even if we had different views about it. I had only found that with newsgroups and Transformers previously. There were Transformers but also nostalgia, comics, cartoons, and other things nobody in my friend group or my family really discussed very often. After my second hospital stay I found myself replying in the comments and realizing I was almost writing articles. So in November of that year I started my own website. You’re reading it right now unless someone stole or reblogged this article.
Every year around this time I do a “best of” for the year. The anniversary officially was Sunday, but that’s when I do the comic and then the chapter by chapter book review on Monday. So for once I’m late due to scheduling instead of forgetting I should do one of these.
Somehow I managed to miss very few posts this year. I did have to keep an eye on my dad as he went through a milder version of the diverticulitis that ruined my 2016 and attempts at a week off coincided with me being unwell or otherwise distracted, but I managed to stick to the schedule this year. I even started a couple new article series and added a “BW Prose” section to link all my various storytelling attempts not in comic book form, to join the comic archives I already had. I also just finished a book I ended up spending the whole year plus going over, not usually a curse of reviewing a book a chapter a week, but there you go.
Now it’s time to look back at the articles that I still remember, ones I plan to reference a lot, or just ones that I felt necessary or just fun to make. What makes this year’s list of article links? I decided to break them down into categories after writing the whole list, so they may not all be in proper chronological order. Kind of like my comic collection.
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At least modern comic covers make a good poster while not selling the story inside.
Thunderbolt #56
Charlton Comics Group (February, 1967)
“Beware The Cobra”
CREATOR/WRITER/ARTIST: PAM
The Sentinels: “Where Walks…The Titan!”
WRITER: Gary Friedrich
ARTIST: Sam Grainger
EDITOR: Dick Giordano
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Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter (or possibly multiple chapters for this one) of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
For those of you who missed the preview, “The Rescue” is from back in the days when arcs didn’t have titles, just individual episodes. Arcs have been retroactively added in to match the arc titles of later seasons of the classic series. This arc consists of two episodes, “The Powerful Enemy” and “Desperate Measures”. This is also going to be different from the usual novelisations I’ve reviewed one chapter at a time in the past. Those were based on the last available draft and production images the author had access to in order to get the book out on time alongside the movies. The Rescue novel came out in 1988, a year after the late writer wrote it and over twenty years after the David Whittaker script was written. So changes here are totally a matter of choice by the author.
This was also the first story without Susan, the Doctor’s granddaughter. Carol Ann Ford left the show, so Susan stayed behind on an Earth that was just freed from Dalek control to help rebuild the planet and build a new life with her new love interest. I think Big Finish did audio dramas with what’s next, but considering the young Time Lady in training has more knowledge than the Earthlings, you’d think she’d have had a hand in Earth’s eventual move into space and helping form a galactic federation with (of course) Earth as a centerpiece. After all, the show is written by Earthlings. It’s also why most of the aliens and ancient civilisations show up in the United Kingdom, because until Disney+ came along the show was very much British with the occasional Scotsman as the Doctor because they’re still in the UK.
The book itself has no chapter titles. I’ll be noting which of the two episodes is being adapted here, and remember that the BBC dropped this episode on the Classic Doctor Who YouTube channel just in time for me to use the arc as part of Saturday Night Showcase to set up this review. So watch that first if you want, or just follow along the novel. I have the Target Books printing from 1988, imported to the US because of the show’s American fanbase via PBS back when they still mattered. That’s for anyone actually reading along. Let’s begin with the prologue and set our story up with technically part one of “The Powerful Enemy”.
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Somewhere, Spider-Woman is wondering how Choice is getting away with this after the flack she got.
Hardcase #11
Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (April, 1994)
“The Angry Past” part 2
WRITER: James D. Hudnall
PENCILER: Scott Benefiel
INKER: Jasen Rodrigues
COLORING: Moose Baumann & Foodhammer!
LETTERER: Tim Eldred
EDITOR: Hank Kanalz
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Catch more from Isaak Wells on YouTube
I’ve never been to a Disney park, but it seems like people really like the Queen and Gaston from what I’ve seen. It’s a shame that a few easily offended people are once again ruining the fan experience for everyone else.
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Hey, at least someone remembered this year.
Thanks to Google Calendar, I did remember this year. It just happens to be on a Sunday. Thanks to scheduling I have to move the usual “best of the year” article link list to Tuesday. More on this week’s schedule in a moment.
First I have to go over this week’s Clutter Report, which didn’t include any declutter on my part thanks to how my week went. So I have two videos examining why physical media is making a comeback and why that’s a good thing.
Back here, in addition to the annual Best Of we begin the Chapter By Chapter review of the novelisation (I use the “s” instead of the “z” because it’s a British book) of the Doctor Who episode “The Rescue”, which you can see in last week’s Saturday Night Showcase. Watch that and follow the novel as we begin the prologue. It’s a full chapter length and I don’t think I have to worry about chapters being too short like the last book. Also, the Friday Golden Age comic reviews from the Comic Book+ virtual newsstand hits February, 1940 and the CBS Transformers review will be up on Friday, as we continue through the production notes between the first and second pitch drafts. That leaves us two days of feature articles for me to come up with discussions for, plus the other comic reviews and daily videos. And as mentioned in last night’s Showcase we have the other Batman ’66 animated movie before Adam West’s passing to go over.
Have a great week, everyone!
BW Media Spotlight 