NOTE: This video came out in 2023, before the second Ultimate Universe.
Catch more from Casually Comics on YouTube
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.
Our chapter for this installment is short, only four pages. That’s too short to combine with the two normal-sized chapters surrounding it and I have little time today. A short chapter will work this week. Maybe being short will allow it to avoid last chapter’s mistake of having more flavor than anything interesting, even if the short moment it did continue the story showed a rare moment of competency for our heroes.
It’s back to Commie Op-Center, and so far their impression as the enemy has been up for debate. Sure, they’ve managed to take out two better characters agents but you can already see that egos and self-interests are already going to ruin Dogin’s ultimate goal so I feel like I’m waiting to see those issues ruin them before they can be a good threat, especially if regular Op-Center is going to get their act together and prove to be the organization they should have been in the first book. We’re only around 1/3 into the book, so it’s a bit early to see the instruments of their demise this early. Already there are factions brewing and if our heroes can finally overcome their own issues, it’s going to be an easy victory. With last chapter’s padding they’re going to have to convince me they’re a serious threat and that our side is going to be the protection the world needs from World War III and the return of the Soviet empire.
That’s all the padding I can do for the homepage, so I guess we’ll jump right into tonight’s chapter.
Chapter 22: Monday, 9:30 PM, St. Petersburg, Russia
It’s going to confuse me if they do a chapter in Florida.
Tell others about the Spotlight:
You know what I hate about crossovers? When they make me read comics I’m trying to avoid!
Freex #6
Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (December, 1993)
“Who Do You Trust?”
WRITER: Gerald Jones
CO-PLOTTER/”NIGHT MAN” CREATOR: Steve Englehart
PENCILER: Ben Herrera
INKERS: Rodrigues & Christian (maybe leave room for first names when there’s more than one person to a credit)
COLORING: Keith Conroy & Violet Hues
LETTERER: Tim Eldred
EDITOR: Hank Kanalz
Tell others about the Spotlight:
Presenting my most lazy comic in a long time.
Hopefully the laziest comic of the year, but I make no promises after last year. Even this week’s Clutter Report goes over how little I accomplished on my 2024 decluttering goals.
Well, looks like DC Heroes United took a longer break than I did. Makes forcing a Sunday post to keep caught up was a waste of time. Thanks a lot, Genvid! We still have the final section of the writer’s guide for the penultimate (if not final) installment of Star Trek: Pitch & Guide and the Chapter By Chapter review of Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mirror Image plus whatever other discussion topics come to mind. I should have a chance to be late to the party on the trailer for Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man but I think I at least have an angle that will keep it interesting and worth checking out. As for the other two days, we’ll find out soon enough.
Have a great week and a Happy New Year, everyone! Let’s hope 2025 is better than 2024. Not that we’re off to a good start.
Tell others about the Spotlight:
I haven’t done a fan work in a while. Let’s do something about that tonight.
I haven’t really been drawn to a lot of new Transformers content from official channels. I found EarthSpark kind of boring and the celebrated Skybound comics too brutal, after coming off the uninteresting IDW run as it fell apart. The storyline for the next collectors toyline is both curious and disappointing at the same time, but Age Of The Primes and it’s use of the 13 Primes, the first Cybertronian robots to attain lifeform status, hasn’t been on full display yet. I don’t even know whose doing that one, while all we know about the upcoming kids line, Cyberworld, is that it will exist and replace EarthSpark. There’s not even word on a TV show or who will air it, given the failures of Cartoon Network and later Paramount to treat the franchise properly. Paramount keeps trying to ease back into Bayverse formulas when their only success, Bumblebee, is the only praised live-action offering. Meanwhile, Transformers One had it’s own issues, one of them being how Paramount marketed it. I’d say go back to Discovery but right now they’re still sorting out their nonsense when it comes to animation and their networks…plus either way I can’t watch it since we’re part of the cord cutting generation and none of the Netflix or Paramount+ shows are available outside of paid subscriptions.
Transformers: Dawn Of War is a computer animated series coming from the team of Randal NG and Dr. Smoov, two animators who have mostly done Transformers comedy in the past, but are now trying their hand at a more serious series. Tonight’s video is a combination of the first two episodes, but while rather exposition heavy, sets up their take on the Robots In Disguise. They also have to drop…”that line“. While a new continuity and featuring humans dying, it’s not brutal and violent like the Skybound stories while still keeping the dramatic impact. They seem to be going with my preferred origin of Optimus Prime and Elita-One, from the episode “War Dawn“, rather than the record keeper turned warrior that Simon Furman forced into being. I’m happy about that. Enjoy.
BW Media Spotlight 
BW’s Saturday Article Link> The Found Family Folly
There is an episode of Captain N: The Game Master where Kevin Keene refers to the N-Team, the collection of video game heroes he joins to fight a collaboration of game villains, as his “family”. That was my first exposure to the “found family”, a bunch of friends who act like a family. Actually you could make the case that was the Fantastic Four but between marriage and blood relations it’s not the same thing. I found the idea silly. My friends are my friends but no matter how close they are, they aren’t my family. Then again we live in a time where the traditional family in stories are rare and usually don’t seem to even like each other, nevermind love each other.
Author Caroline Furlong, using the Star Wars expanded universe (the part that was tossed into “Legends” by Disney in favor of their own continuity), discusses how even the found family is suffering the same issues as the biological family it tried to shove aside.
Tell others about the Spotlight:
Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on January 4, 2025 in Uncategorized and tagged commentary.
2 Comments