Continue watching this series on glib facsimile’s YouTube Channel. As for me, I’m finishing reading the guide tonight.
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.
I tried doing this with WordPress’s “block editor” since it’s trying to phase out the classic one, which doesn’t work on this site but oddly does for The Clutter Reports as far as going directly to it without a pre-created link. I still have to learn how to format the way I like there. I only mention it to pad out the intro.
Last time, we saw that father and son don’t get along, as Paul’s Russian counterpart doesn’t have as much love from his kid as Paul did from his two. If you recall, when he had to rush back to Op-Center his kids, not even knowing about the details of the bombing if they knew about the bombing at all, were totally on his side, encouraging him to go stop the bad guys. Orlov’s son, on the other hand, is one of the bad guys even if he isn’t fully aware of Dogin’s plans. He’d probably be all in on it given what we learned.
Tonight’s chapter is a short one, at four pages. That barely works for me but I could use the time and the next chapter is average length, so let us head to the skies and check in on Striker. I hope their flight goes better than the Ruskies’ flight.
Chapter 25: Monday, 2:53 PM, over the Atlantic, northwest of Madrid
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Soon the logo slaughtering will cease.
Break-Thru #2
Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (January, 1994)
“The Secrets Of The Ultraverse!”
PLOT: Gerard Jones, Mike W. Barr, Steve Englehart, Steve Gerber, James D. Hudnall, Tom Mason, George Pérez, James Robinson, and Len Strazewski
WRITER: Gerard Jones
PENCILER: George Pérez
INKER: Al Vey
COLORISTS: Moose Baumann & Robert Alvrod
EDITORS: Hank Kanalz and Chris Ulm
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Catch more from Comic Drake on YouTube
I remember looking up the Japanese intro to Filmation’s The New Adventures Of Superman, the show that basically launched Filmation as an independent animation studio. There were people from Japan in the comments who were saying that the show was a bit part of their childhood. Marvel clearly made the bigger push into Japan than DC has but that made me happy.
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There’s a reason the culture war is a minor discussion topic on this storytelling discussion site.
There are people convinced in early 2025 that they’re seeing proof “woke media” is changing gears because the business owners don’t care and just see the money they’ve lost. I’m not so sure for a host of reasons I won’t get into here, and if you read this near the end of the year or beyond you know if they went underground or pushed back harder. I don’t think it’s going away, but BW Media Spotlight isn’t a culture site, it’s a review site. Even though the activists are a new problem, I’m focused on how they got in so that they don’t get back. Bad adaptations, people being the wrong choice for a project but got the job because they did this other thing successfully, creators with “better” ideas or want to attack this thing they didn’t like, and people who game the system to get their story out by fooling the right people (even fans who thought they were getting something they wanted) have been issues and these need to be addressed as well. It’s just the activists have highlighted the problems, but if all you see is “woke” you’re missing the larger problem.
Over at The Clutter Reports this week, I started one of those longer projects by organizing my personal files. This is already planned to be a multi-day project, but I was able to get far enough for this week’s report. Starting this and being a bit tired is why I forgot to do a Saturday Night Showcase this week. Sorry.
As I write this on Saturday night there is no new episode of DC Heroes United. Are they having trouble getting this out? At any rate this means even if I need a second day, we’re finishing the Star Trek writer’s guide’s Q&A section and finishing the entire guide. If they get one out by Tuesday’s post time, I think we’re still finishing the guide. There isn’t much left to the Q&A. There’s also the Chapter By Chapter review of Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mirror Image, which will probably take all winter at least. Plus whatever else I can find to discuss, the continuing comic reviews, and so on.
Have a great week, everyone!
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That title is me taking a different perspective than the article writer. I’ve not watched a lot of 007 in action, but I have watched a lot of classic Battlestar Galactica, and really enjoy it. So while writer A.H. Lloyd wrote a commentary for Bleeding Fool about how changing James Bond too much alters the character, like gender swaps, he uses the namesake Battlestar Galactica as his example of how a character is changed in that way. Note for some of you out there that he takes issue with Ellen/Elliot Page’s transition, so if that bothers you just skip that paragraph and read the rest because it does make a good case. If that doesn’t bother you, ignore the last sentence.
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It’s amazing watching beloved video game studios and publishers throwing away their years long reputation. I remember when Activision and Electronic Arts (now just EA) were symbols of quality to gamers, and now they’re sources of rage from those same gamers. Rocksteady Studios managed to ruin a whole sub-IP with one game, by setting Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League in the same universe as their Arkham games and producing a subpar gameplay experience with a frustrating storyline (powered by activist consultant firm Sweet Baby Inc, a name that is becoming the mark of death for a video game) where you play as the worst scum of the DC universe no matter how badly DC Entertainment is trying to push Harley Quinn between their comics and movie/streaming offerings, as they kill off childhood heroes and cultural icons with no respect shown by the creators of the game. I expect that from the villains, not the writers…or wouldn’t if I wasn’t a comic fan in the 2020s or a DC fan in the 2000s. (I remind you, DiDio’s Darker DC is still in effect.)
In a blatant attempt to save face, Rocksteady has dropped what is essentially an epilogue to their game, but not one you can play, or with a proper cutscene, or even anything that doesn’t come off as a retcon inspired by attempts to defend this game by brand loyalists who refuse to think anything under the DC umbrella is bad. As Rocksteady and WB Games prepare to end support and servers for Kill The Justice League, they dropped a last bit of lore that they thought would make everyone happy. Maybe if they dropped it sooner, presented it better, and put it in a more fun game to play, but none of that happened. Just look at this thing.
BW Media Spotlight 