Saturday Night Showcase: Rod Rocket

Hal Sutherland RIP

Events this week has made this late, so let’s do a short one…and the only episode I could find. Rod Rocket may be the first official project by Filmation Associates, while The New Adventures Of Superman could be their first…what, solo gig? It was, according to Wikipedia, “originally produced by True Line, a small Los Angeles animation studio that subcontracted the newly formed Filmation Associates created by Lou Scheimer and Hal Sutherland in the early 1960s. Scheimer and Sutherland had met while working at Larry Harmon Productions on the made-for-TV Bozo the Clown and Popeye cartoons. SIB Productions, a Japan-based company with an American office in Chicago, co-produced the series in conjunction with the CBS Television Network.”

I took a quick look at Lou Scheimer’s autobiograpy, Creating The Filmation Generation, which I really need to finish. It seems SIB started the project and Lou & Hal were brought in to make it work. The series were 5 short episodes that would end up being a half-hour episode if put together. I was only able to find this lone episode, so it serves an example.

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Today’s Comic> TMNT: Utrom Empire #1

TMNT Utrom Empire #1

“Why did we build that giant Baxter Stockman balloon?”

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Utrom Empire #1

IDW Publishing (January, 2014)

WRITER: Paul Allor
ARTIST: Andy Kuhn
COLORIST: Bill Crabtree
LETTERER: Shawn Lee
EDITOR: Bobby Curnow

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Friday Night Fights: Burning Chest

First off, sorry there was no “Today’s Comic” posting. I’ll have that up tomorrow. Things are a bit hectic right now.

Tonight’s fight, however, comes from the comic I DID get up this morning. I told you how Sho the Guyver defeated Aptom. Would you like to see it?

Friday Night Fights clean logo

“Sugar Ray” round 9

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Morning Article Link: Is DC Learning Its Lesson?

DC logo 2012

I’m betting no, and the same for The Outsiders, a website that maintains a counter for how long it’s been since the powers that be at DC Comics did something to upset fans, lose good creative talent, or screw over someone who is somehow still there. So who better to try and figure out what’s going right at DC? Don’t worry, guys. It sadly won’t last long.

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“Yesterday’s” Comic> Bio-Booster Armor Guyver Part 4 #4

Bio-Booster Armor Guyver p4 #4

How do you make a joke about this? It’s just a head.

Bio-Booster Armor Guyver Part 4 #4

Viz Comics (1996)

originally published by Tokuma Soten Publishing

“Ultimate!”
WRITER/ARTIST: Yoshiki Tokaya
TRANSLATION: Fred Burke & Toshifumi Yoshida
TOUCH-UP ART/LETTERER: Bill Spicer
COVER DESIGN: Viz Graphics
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Toshifumi Yoshida
EDITOR: Annetta Roman

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Scanning My Collection: Transformers And The Man Of Iron

Scanning My Collection logo

Here’s a little note about the arrangement of Transformers comics in my collection, and yes there is a point. The midnight posting for The Transformers this week was issue #32. Next week will be #35 and then we’ll complete the Headmasters run. The continuity feels right to me this way. But you may be asking “what happened to #33 and #34?” since they should be next. Well, that’s what tonight’s article is about.

At the time, Budiansky was writing the US comic, the Headmasters miniseries, and whatever else he might have been doing at the time. I don’t rightly know. So to ease his workload a bit, the first UK-exclusive storyline, “Man Of Iron”, was reprinted in the US. Since the UK creators didn’t have enough US stories to get a sense of the characters’ personalities (only the first four were produced, and the Transformers didn’t have a lot of personality in those stories) or Cybertronian history they made a few differences from what we’ve come to know. I usually put these two aside as a separate universe altogether. So how good is the story?

Transformers #33 & 34

The covers almost make it look like a time travel story. It isn’t.

The Transformers #s 33 & 34

Marvel Comics (October & November, 1987)

originally published in The Transformers (UK) #s 9-12

“Man Of Iron” parts 1-4
WRITER: Steve Parkhouse
ARTISTS: John Ridgeway (1&2) and Mike Collins (3&4)
COLORIST: Nel Yomtov (recolored from Josie Firmin (1&2) and Gina Hart (3&4), I can only judge Yomtov’s work)
LETTERER: Richard Starkings
EDITOR: Sheila Cranna

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Today’s Comic> Samurai Jack #4

Samurai Jack #4

That polar bear paid his dentist extra for those fangs.

Samurai Jack #4

IDW Publishing (January, 2014)

“The Threads Of Time” part 4
WRITER: Jim Zub
ARTIST: Andy Suriano
COLORIST: John Burcham
LETTERER: Shawn Lee
EDITOR: Carlos Guzman
“SAMURAI JACK” CREATOR: Genndy Tartakovsky

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