The polar bear balloon looks mad the dragon pushed ahead in line.
Scooby-Doo #14
Archie Comics (November, 1996)
“The Balloon Busters”
WRITER: Mark Evanier
ARTIST: Dan Spiegle
COLORIST: Ken Feduniewicz
LETTERER: Carrie Spiegle
EDITOR: Sid Jacobson
Though Aquaman has appeared in other people’s cartoons or various incarnations of the Justice Leagues as far back as Super Friends he’s only had one cartoon, from Filmation in the 1960s. Now he’s finally getting his second animated solo outing on HBO Max (because hosting it on one of two animation channels you own or the streaming service exclusively for DC Comics properties would just be silly apparently). I’m betting it’s going to be based on the movie rather than the actual comic because comics are still the low-rung to Hollywood.
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I’m a bit under the weather today (yesterday for you guys) so I don’t have a full commentary in me. So I have to break out the filler video although I’ve been trying to save those for Saturday Night Showcase or alternating the Morning Article Link with a Morning Video. I like to focus on multiple experiences because it’s all storytelling to me. This however is not actually about story telling since that would take too much time.
What do you do when you really enjoy a game but have played it to death? You create challenges. “Can beat the game without a certain weapon or any weapons?” Pokemon players have the Nuzlock challenge, where if their Pokemon faints it isn’t revived and treated like it died. (A bit dark for a kids game but whatever.) And of course you have games with different difficulty levels so if you started on a lower difficulty you can try again at the higher one. These challenges keep the games fresh and give you a new…well, challenge.
The most popular online for the general video game catalogue is the “speedrun”, where you try to complete the game faster than you did before. In the days when games had time limits I’m guessing this was easy because some levels it was a necessity. However, the speedrun has continued on with games that have no time limits but do have counters for how long it took to beat a level with all the other challenges completed, like 100% of the enemies. Sometimes it’s even as simple as getting to the end of a stage while ignoring percents. You make the challenge you want. Did You Know Gaming? takes a look at the history of this challenge, how it got so popular, and how it continues to evolve. It actually took some time.
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“And I gave up being a kindergarten teacher for this?”
Robotech II: The Sentinels book 2 #8
Eternity Comics (July, 1991)
“Seek And Destroy”
WRITERS: Tom Mason & Chris Ulm
ARTIST: John Waltrip
COVER COLORIST: Paul Mounts
LETTERER: Clem Robins
EDITOR: Dan Danko
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I know this isn’t a parody site and yet The Mews recently posted a story I find hard to believe. Yes, apparently Warner Brothers’ bad decisions have driven them to start choosing movies…by a computer. This is just more proof that Hollywood is getting less and less human and failing to understand that’s why we aren’t as invested in their productions anymore.
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If it didn’t have Bumblebee I’m not convinced. (image source: Multiplayer.it by way of TFW2005)
The best video game isn’t your favorite video game, unless you mean that. “To me this is the best video game ever!” Your favorite video game may be the best you ever played because it’s the type of game you enjoy. Someone may prefer Tetris, someone else Starcraft, and somebody else Aliens: Colonial Marines. Heck, someone out there really likes the ET video game. Again, quality doesn’t always equal enjoyment.
The most popular video games may also not be the most influential. An influential game introduces a play mechanic or maybe even story mechanic that improves video games as a method of play primarily or finds a way to tell a story not seen before. It may also just innovate an old mechanic and improve on it. Of course I don’t play a lot of video games due to everything else I work on, though I’ve been wanting to. Every time I think I’m ready to start a let’s play video series so I can work in it (this is an odd way to get me to do a project or have fun but it seems to be working with reading comics and books) something else goes wrong, usually with the computer but sometimes its part of everything else life is tossing at me. So I’m turning to Game Theory and MatPat as he takes a two-part video to go not the best or his favorite games but ones that have been thus far more influential in the advancement of video games as a form of media.
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Everyone thought Scotty spiked the punch bowl but it was actually Spock.
Star Trek #25
DC Comics (November, 1991)
“Class Reunion”
WRITER: Howard Weinstein
PENCILER: Gordon Purcell
INKER: Arne Starr
COLORIST: Tom McCraw
LETTERER: Bob Pinaha
EDITOR: Robert Greenberger
