That’s how the New 52 writers feel.
DC Comics (June, 1996)
WRITER: Mark Evanier PENCILER/CO-INKER: Sergio Aragonés INKERS: John Dell, Denis Rodier, Scott Hanna, John Byrne, Ron Boyd, Jerry Ordway, & Joe Rubinstein COLORIST: Tom Luth SEPARATIONS: Peter Tomasi EDITOR: Dan Raspler “SUPERMAN” CREATORS: Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster “BATMAN” CREATOR: Bob Kane “WONDER WOMAN” CREATOR: William Moulton Marston
I don’t usually cover toys here at the Spotlight and the only toys I review at The Clutter Reports are ones I already own, and this one only exists as a prototypes. However, this is a special occasion.
I know Greg “M. Sipher” Seplak from the alt.toys.transformers days and we converse now over Twitter. He is a great Transformers and Mega Man fan artist, which led to official Transformers work for the official collector club. We reconnected because he and another ATT alumnus, Trent Troop, co-produce a review series called The Isle Of Rangoon. Well they and one of their friends, Alex Androski, decided to create the ultimate “third-party” toyline, and it looks really good.
Third-party toys are nothing new. I had a two-headed dragon that was compatible with Masters Of The Universe toys. At first I was disappointed because it wasn’t Panthor (I did get Battle Cat for He-Man eventually), but my kid-brain soon realized that a large purple panther has nothing on a two-headed dragon, especially for Skeletor! Nowadays there aren’t as many of these toys that were made to interact with more well-known toylines. I like the idea, because some kid has a vehicle for his G.I. Joe figures that other kids don’t have. At best you find cheap knockoffs of Transformers or Transformer-type figures.
Online can be a different story, as some fans have gone to making third-party toys of figures they don’t think will come out officially or will not be as good as they feel their favorite character deserves. (Although they have to put a new name on there and make the figure just different enough for legal purposes, like when characters in licensed comics don’t quite resemble the actor fully.) Yet others make accessories or labels that interact with their favorite toyline. Greg and Trent’s figures, though, go beyond that…by being compatible with a whole bunch of toylines! Let me introduce you to the Bio-Mechanical Ordnance Gestalts!
Guess I shouldn’t have mentioned cheesecake for the last cover.
Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters #6
IDW Publishing (October, 2013)
STORY: Mairghread Scott (writer) & Mike Johnson ARTISTS: Augustin Padilly & Atilio Rojo COLORIST: Priscilla Tramontano SELECTED COVER ART: Ken Christensen LETTERER: Tom B. Long EDITOR: Carlos Guzman
Just in case you thought cheesecake was a recent superheroine issue.
Legionnaires #16
DC Comics (July, 1994)
“Saved By Zero” WRITER: Mark Waid PENCILER: Chris Gardner INKER: Dennis Cramer COLORIST: Tom McCraw LETTERER: Pat Brosseau ASSISTANT EDITOR: Mike McAvenue EDITOR: KC Carlson
I’m getting worse at remembering this anniversary every year. Of course, if you’ve been following me the past couple of months I should have a very easy excuse instead of just a reason. Still, October 25th keeps passing without a celebration of my laughable (for the wrong reasons) comic strip.
I’d like to think I get a little better each year, but judge for yourselves. All the comics should fit the “official” orientation and none of them will have been done in Manga Studio since I only started using it for Jake & Leon the past two strips. It’s taking some getting used to but there are some good parts to it. There are no new characters for Jake and Leon to play with, and I don’t recall any special events in the strip, so this should be based on the topic and gag. Let’s see what I consider my highlights over a year later. (Yes, this will be very image-heavy.)
I see this ending very badly.
Herobear and the Kid: The Inheritance #3
IDW Publishing (October, 2013)
WRITER/ARTIST/CREATOR: Mike Kunkel ASSISTANT EDITOR: Whitney Leopard EDITOR: Shannon Watters DESIGNER: Stephanie Gonzaga
Luckily they can’t decide on sandwiches to order out.
The Amazing Spider-Man #384
Marvel Comics (December, 1993)
“Trial By Jury” part 2,”Dreams Of Innocence” WRITER: David Michelinie PENCILER: Mark Bagley INKERS: Randy Emberlin & Al Milgrom COLORIST: Bob Sharen LETTERER: Rick Parker ASSISTANT EDITOR: Mark BernardoEDITOR: Danny Fingeroth
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
