February 4, 2025

BW’s Daily Video> Another Superhero Movie Director Who Doesn’t Understand Superhero Movies

Catch more from Midnight’s Edge on YouTube

A bit harsh towards Damian and Scrappy-Doo if you ask me, but for the most part he has a point. The Flash has been out of comics since the Filmation DC shows, has two live-action series as well as appearing on every animated DC hero team show ever, and even a few video game appearances. People know who the Flash is, even if they don’t know the difference between Barry Allen and Wally West (and neither do some of the writers) and have never heard of Jay Garrick. I saw neither character in Ezra’s portrayal in Justice League and even if the actor hasn’t been a garbage person because of his actions I had no reason to see an adaptation of one of my least favorite comic events with this version of the Flash being used because Warner Brothers screwed up and needed to course correct. You made the wrong movie, man. Just admit it.

By the way, didn’t Gunn praise this movie? Makes you question if he’s the right guy for the job, either.

Posted by on February 4, 2025 in DC Spotlight, Movie Spotlight and tagged , , , , .

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February 3, 2025

Chapter By Chapter> Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mirror Image chapter 26

Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter (or possibly multiple chapter 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.

In our last installment we got a brief visit with the Striker team. It’s a longer chapter this week, so good thing I have the time to read it. It’s been that kind of…time.

Despite my misgivings going in, I’m actually enjoying this book so far. It seems to be bypassing most of the mistakes of the first novel. The unlikable aspects of our heroes are toned down, the chapters are still odd choices at times but at least last time they made good use of it, and while I still think it’s too early for the “evil twin” plot I have maintained interest in the story.

We’re still not at the halfway point so I hope you’re enjoying this readthrough, and let me know what you think if you have a copy and have been reading along. In the meantime, it’s on to the next chapter, and back to Russia.

Chapter 26> Monday, 11PM, St. Petersburg

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Posted by on February 3, 2025 in Chapter By Chapter, Op-Center: Mirror Image and tagged , , , , , , , , .

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February 3, 2025

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Hardcase #8

Guess what doesn’t happen in this issue.

Hardcase #8

Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (January, 1994)

“Loose Ends”

WRITER: James D. Hudnall

PENCILER: Scott Benefiel

INKER: Mike Christian

COLORING: Moose Baumann & Family Fugue

LETTERER: Tim Eldred

EDITOR: Hank Kanalz

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Posted by on February 3, 2025 in Yesterday's Comics and tagged , , , , , , , .

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February 3, 2025

BW’s Daily Video> A Not-Disney Winnie The Pooh Cartoon?

At least it isn’t a horror movie. Yes, I know one exists and is getting a sequel. That’s why I’m mad and why I support this initially. Kartoon Channel, who doesn’t have the best legacy with me when it comes to their original shows versus their acquired shows, has opted to create two characters, Squeaks and the “imaginatively” named Fox. Not sure why Squeaks is such a go-to name for squirrels, but it’s not the first time I’ve seen it. Nice to see someone using a newly public-domained kids property to make actual kids entertainment.

Meanwhile, the last two times Disney used Pooh Bear and friends was a show where Pooh and Tigger solve “mysteries” with some little girl that came out of nowhere and a de-aged “play with us” show. Kingdom Hearts has made better use of the Hundred Acre Wood.

Posted by on February 3, 2025 in Animation Spotlight, Book Spotlight and tagged , , , .

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February 2, 2025

Jake & Leon #629> Prep This!

Batman doesn’t specialize in anything, including preparation.

Can we stop pretending Batman could be God with “prep time”? Yes, he can strategize, come up with plans to stop his friends (I hope he has contingencies for the foes of the DC universe but we never hear about them, not even the Gotham villains he usually fights), and has all kinds of gadgets. He still doesn’t have a clean win/loss record, and Bane’s apparently better at coming up with plans to ruin Bruce’s life than Ra’s Al Ghul. Stop complaining Superman is “too powerful” and then being sure Batman could stop anyone if he has enough prep time. Also, what happens if he doesn’t? Dead Batman, that’s what happens.

Over at The Clutter Reports this week I can happily report on a completed declutter project (with a few minor issues to clean up) because my personal records are now organized.

I should also note the passing of John Erwin, the voice of He-Man in the original He-Man & The Masters Of The Universe. My condolences to his family and friends, and my thanks for bringing one of my childhood heroes and inspirations to life.

Well, this should be an interesting week. No writer’s guide to review for a while, and still no new DC Heroes United, making me wonder if they’re seeing more flaws in this project behind the scenes that I’ve begun noticing. I hope they at least finish the story, even if they can’t finish the game. The point is, outside of the comic reviews and the next chapter of Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mirror Image, I have a week to discuss anything. Now I just need the entertainment industry to do something stupid beyond the culture war (so I don’t have to talk about a certain Oscar-nominated movie that has everyone united in its destruction on both wings of the bird because I ain’t touching that garbage) and I should be all set. Are the fires over? Are they getting back to work? Then something stupid should be on the way. Or they could surprise me with something to celebrate! I doubt it, but you can’t be pessimist all the time, right? Maybe I’ll find happier topics this week as well. We’ll see.

Have a great week, everyone!

Posted by on February 2, 2025 in DC Spotlight, Jake & Leon and tagged , , , , , , , , .

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February 1, 2025

Saturday Night Showcase> A Taste Of Star Trek’s Second Pilot: Studio Edition

This is going to be a short intro because I don’t know the full story of this edition. Still, I thought this compilation of videos was a good connection to our recently completed look at the guide and original sales pitch for the original Star Trek.

“Where No Man Has Gone Before” is the first official episode of Star Trek, although “The Man Trap” was the first one aired. “Where No Man…” was also the second pilot, NBC having rejected “The Cage” and asked for certain changes, which led to the Star Trek we know and love.

Recently I stumbled up a collection of 4K. 48 frames per second remasters by Tales From SYL Ranch DARKROOM on YouTube. This is how they describe what we’re about to see:

There is an edit of STAR TREK’s second pilot known as the STUDIO EDITION that has a number of differences from the aired edit. It was screened only to studio and network execs. This is the first scene, now remastered to 4K/48fps, fresh from the Tales From SYL Ranch DARKROOM! 👍

Original Shooting Date: July 19, 1965 I

IMDB Entry For Aired Version: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061027/

Remastered With:

So my guess is, like we saw earlier this week with Knight Rider, this was a version screened for the network executives who didn’t have time to watch the full version, or this was a partially completed one so they didn’t spend all their time on all the details until they got the greenlight for the version we eventually saw. “The Cage” would of course show up later, reworked into “The Menagerie” as stock footage while the original finally made it to television when Sci-Fi Channel did a tribute marathon for the show’s anniversary.

Tonight I’m bringing you those clips, and you can go the clips’ respective YouTube pages to see the comments and further information. Remember that this isn’t the full episode. Someone doesn’t want to get sued by Paramount or whoever ends up buying them as of this writing. I’m surprised this is up given all the games I had to play just to keep the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles intros around and I’m afraid to check to see how many are dead video embeds now. Still, this is rather fascinating. Enjoy.

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Posted by on February 1, 2025 in Saturday Night Showcase, Television Spotlight and tagged , , , , .

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February 1, 2025

BW’s Saturday Article Link> Ubisoft Continues To Dig A “Shadow”y Grave

 

I remind you, the French development team who really needed to upgrade the only black guy in Japanese history anyone heard of. More crackers than a saltines box.

With everything that the creators of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows has done to tick off Japan and annoy the general gaming community and fans of the franchise, having one of them say that they don’t want to tell Japan their culture because they already know it is hilarious for all the wrong reasons. Spencer Baculi of Bounding Into Comics goes into the full statement and why it makes no sense when you’re actually paying attention to everything surrounding this game, including stuff I’ve brought up in prior posts.

Posted by on February 1, 2025 in Video Game Spotlight and tagged , , , .

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