January 19, 2025

Jake & Leon #627> Unfriendly Wardrobe

It isn’t just my questionable art skills that kept you from realizing this was Spider-Man related.

First time I drew MC2’s Mayday Parker. Of the various Spider-Kids she seemed like the right choice. Not having the traditional Spidey suit is another strike against the trailer.

Over at The Clutter Reports this week I managed to strike a blow against my overloaded RSS feeds. So here’s an article about doing an article reading binge fest.

I don’t know how many episodes are left for DC Heroes United, but the next one dropped on Friday so we’re going over it on Tuesday. As Trump takes back the White House and we celebrate the most famous champion of civil rights…wait, no political comments down there. I’m just saying that’s happening the same day as the next Chapter By Chapter installment of Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mirror Image, which oddly reflects a few other current events by accident. We’re also nearing the end of the writer’s guide for the original Star Trek, and who knows what’s coming up the last two days. We hit November, 1939 last Friday for the daily retro comic reviews, so that should be fun, and I’m almost out of Drive Thru Comics like I was Comixology under Amazon. I have an option for Thursdays when that day finally comes.

That’s the updates. Have a great week, everyone!

Posted by on January 19, 2025 in Animation Spotlight, Marvel Spotlight, Streaming Spotlight and tagged , , , , .

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January 18, 2025

Saturday Night Showcase> DIC’s Sonic The Hedgehog Trio

When Hulu first started one of the best features for this site was the ability to embed their videos, meaning Saturday Night Showcase could post a lot of stuff. Then they slowly dropped the feature and I was out of luck, since I’d rather use a legal option when possible. This encourages rights holders to put stuff out there, but when that option isn’t available or its in public domain I worry less about it.

Now we have rights holders and distributors using streaming even when the studios and networks try to hold on to the old system because they know how to control it, turning streaming into cable part 3 (part 2 would be satellite). Wildbrain, the current owners of DIC Entertainment’s library, had an official YouTube channel where they post shows and clip. Tonight I thought it would be interesting to highlight the three Sonic The Hedgehog shows, as they have influence on the Archie Sonic and Knuckles comics I review on Wednesdays. At the point I’m reviewing they’re pushing away from that, with “help” from Ken Penders, and that’s going to end poorly. So this is the last chance to do this.

In total DIC produced three Sonic cartoons, two at the same time and all three with the same voice for Sonic, Jaleel White. Robonik and Tails would have different VAs for each show, with Tails absent from the third show. All three shows depict a world taken over by Doctor Robotnik, but with different approaches. With that, let’s get into all three shows and what Archie borrowed from them rather than the video games like more recent Sonic shows.

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Posted by on January 18, 2025 in Animation Spotlight, Comic Spotlight, Television Spotlight, Video Game Spotlight and tagged , , , , .

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January 18, 2025

Saturday Article Link> The “Key” Comic Collecting Problem

In the world of comic collecting, story takes a back seat to moments, events, and firsts. This may be one of the (many, MANY) reasons comics now seem to focus on that, especially at the big two, who have played to the collectors throughout this part of the 21st century. However, these “key” comics may not have always been as important or as “profitable” as they are today. Writing for Bleeding Fool, Jerry Lucky did a bit of research into history to find out just when so-called key comics first started to really matter more than others.

Posted by on January 18, 2025 in Comic Spotlight and tagged , .

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January 17, 2025

Sing Me A Story or “Hey, I heard that music in a commercial!”

logo for the Sing Me A Story article series

Let’s be honest. The only reason I’m putting this song in this article series is that it’s already here for analyzing song lyrics. Calling any part of this a story is rather generous. However, it is one of those songs you hear in commercials and either don’t remember what it was or was vaguely popular sometime before you were born.

The Tom Tom Club was a side project by Talking Heads members Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth, a husband and wife team who did stuff a bit more experimental than even the band behind “Once In A Lifetime”. Their 1981 debut self-titled debut album would feature this song. It got some play in the 1980s but it’s not something you hear a lot nowadays even though Talking Heads proves people still enjoy new wave music.

You may have heard parts of it, at least in the US. I’ve noticed a few advertisements have broken out the music or even the line “I’m…in…heaaaaven”. Well, she was talking about being with her boyfriend and getting out of jail…for the first few seconds anyway before it drives straight through funkytown and back to the boyfriend. There’s a reason I said there isn’t much in the way of story with this. I don’t even have enough to say to pad out this intro, so let’s get to it.

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Posted by on January 17, 2025 in Sing Me A Story and tagged , , , , , , .

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January 17, 2025

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Don Winslow Of The Navy (Four Color Series #2)

The strange part is he found his contact lens.

Don Winslow Of The Navy 

Okay, here’s where we get confused. Apparently this is part of the “Four Color” series by Dell Publishing/Western Publishing according to Comic Book Plus, the second in the series. The cover date they give is November, 1939, so we’re starting a new month. On the other hand, the comic itself gives no publisher and list the dates 1936, 1937, and 1938, with the copywrite going to Bell Syndicate, Inc. This may well be a collection of strips by former Lieutenant Frank Victor Martinez, a World War I veteran from Naval Intelligence, which did receive a serial adaptation after this comic came out. Fawcett would do some original comics and there was also apparently a radio drama. Also credited is Leon A. Beroth, who I assume is the artist.

I know this isn’t usually my kind of story, but it’s a comic in the Golden Age that is just one character, so I got curious. After getting the full history, I’m kind of set up to do this, so I’ll continue. Not sure what I’ll do with the rest of the series. Don returns in #22 if you’re curious.

[Read along with me here]

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Posted by on January 17, 2025 in Yesterday's Comics and tagged , , , , .

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January 17, 2025

BW’s Daily Video> Diamond Comics In Trouble

Catch more from Comics by Perch on YouTube

I remember how Diamond killed other distributors, including their biggest rival, Advanced Comics. By getting DC and other publishers to an exclusive deal they put Advanced out of business. Diamond grabbed so many that Advanced could only counter with manga and some of the smaller popular publishers. Sure, TODAY Advanced would have cleaned up on manga but back then they went out of business and Diamond was just short of a monopoly. Going to a smaller store at the time that only got comics to meet the quota for the sports cards they were selling, they were shorted and screwed over many times, and I missed issues as a result. This also happened when that store closed and I resumed my comic collecting with a bigger store, but not be enough for Diamond to care, a problem I never had with Advanced Comics. It’s long overdue karma if you ask me.

Posted by on January 17, 2025 in Comic Spotlight and tagged .

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January 16, 2025

Free Comic Inside> Catra’s Green Thumb Of Doom

Free Comic Inside logo

Well thank goodness the Internet Archive is running or I wouldn’t have a decent place to go to for Princess Of Power.

Yes, it’s back to a version of Etheria guarded by a warrior woman who doesn’t really use a secret identity except when she does, will turn you into a butterfly for attacking her, or a flock of butterflies after helping her (apparently they’re also called a swarm, a rabble, or a kaleidoscope), will turn you to stone for helping a woman take over a castle, and has friends who enchant hand mirrors that was in a box of dress-up clothes buried in her backyard just to comatose your enemy if she steals it. This is a surprisingly dark little girly world, and this series has given us xenomorphs and psychic cannibals. Makes you rethink minicomics, doesn’t it?

This time, He-Man’s twin sister must deal with Catra’s most serious crime yet. Yes, worse than stealing costumes. Worse than taking over She-Ra’s boyfriend by removing his heart. Worse than stealing jewels. Worse than taking over a castle to become…probably prom queen at this point. Yes, this time the villainous vixen…ruins Perfuma’s garden!

Seriously, what is with this comic? The weirdest thing that happens to He-Man is learning his lady companion is a clone Skeletor wanted to raise and marry. At least that plan made sense. Sick and twisted sense, but I’m guessing this is why minicomics Hordak opted to invade Eternia. This Etheria is too weird even for him.

She-Ra meets with her friends Perfuma and a lady with butterfly wings, Flutterina.

At this point She-Ra envied her brother’s planet simply being a death trap.

Princess Of Power series 2 #4

Mattel (1985)

“A Most Unpleasant Present”

WRITER: Tina Harris

PENCILER: Jim Mitchell

INKER: Todd Kurosawa

COLORIST: Charles Simpson

EDITOR: Lee Nording

no credit for the letterer

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Posted by on January 16, 2025 in Free Comic Inside and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

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