September 23, 2024

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Ultraverse Flood Relief

This comic was produced in association with the Red Cross after the Great Flood Of 1993, where Mississippi and Missouri got hit by a huge flood. Its continuity is questionable so this is where the reading order decided to shove it in. Malibu and Spartan Printing took on the printing costs and the donations went to relief efforts.

"I thought you were still on the moon?" "If I find out who created this reading guide..."

Prime lifts a school bus from flood waters during a rainstorm.

Flood Relief

Malibu Comics/Ultraverse/Red Cross (January, 1994)

WRITERS: D. Danko, H. Kanalz, & T. Mason

PENCILERS: A. Lopresti & R. Pace

INKER: J. Lowe

COLORING: ‘Bu Tones

LETTERER: D. Lanphear

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Posted by on September 23, 2024 in Yesterday's Comics and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

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September 23, 2024

BW’s Daily Video> The Overuse of World War II, But Space

Catch more from Spacedock on YouTube

 

Posted by on September 23, 2024 in Uncategorized and tagged , , .

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September 22, 2024

Jake & Leon #613> Coming Soon

Considering what this comic started out as, it’s still a step up.

Well, it’s time to get back into it. How well did I do? Thanks to sleep issues taking half my day away, not as much as I’d like. However, as both the comic and this week’s Clutter Report show, I did manage to get some stuff accomplished. For this site I have a few things on standby, but not as much as I’d like, and I did manage to track down a site with a bunch of old show writer’s guides, and I’m going to drop one of them soon. Even made a logo. Wanna see it?

I’ve been wanting to do another one since I finished Transformers: Beast Machine Hunters, and I got a big one. While I would have liked to have done this before doing the Next Generation guide, I can still compare the two, and I even have the sales pitch along with the writer’s guide. Comparing them to the original show and the ways Roddenberry improved by TNG time will still be a hoot. Hoping to drop this one this week, but that depends on discussion topics. The intro article is written and waiting in the queue, plus one more Finally Watched. I was hoping for more but being half-asleep is not good for focus. If I can get a decent work schedule out of it I might still get some others put in before I have to use up anything but Star Trek: Pitch & Guide this week, and that would be nice. I’d also like to bank a few of those.

As for this week, a short but just long enough to qualify chapter of Op-Center: Mirror Image will help me ease in a bit, speaking of things I could bank if I had time. To help with my time issues, our trip through the Blue Beetle’s pre-DC history will be moving to Tuesday in time for Ted Kord to get his first solo title, while the Golden Age comic will move to Friday, since the time I need to get through all that should be easier to get in by Friday than Tuesday. Whatever else depends on what the week does to me. Have a great week, everyone!

Posted by on September 22, 2024 in Jake & Leon and tagged , , , .

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September 21, 2024

Transformers: The Basics’ Primer For Transformers One

Hiatus officially breaks tomorrow, but with Saturday Night Showcase errors, and Chris McFeely dropping this long compilation of Transformers lore preparing for the release of Transformers One, the first animated Transformers theatrical movie in years (more if you don’t live in Japan), I thought I’d post it for all of you.

Catch more from Chris McFeely on YouTube

Personally, the original origin is still my favorite. Orion Pax’s job pre-war makes more sense given his traditional alternate mode, and it just sounds like a better lead to being Cybertron’s greatest warrior and leader than being a data desk clerk. I also have problems with Furman’s take on Optimus in general. Also PLEASE STOP KILLING OPTIMUS PRIME!!!!!! It’s been (literally) done to death, and should go away along with Bumblebee losing his voice. I don’t mind the stoic take, but a bit of the fun from the original making a return wouldn’t make me sad.

As for Megatron, I have issues with pretty much every version of Mister “Peace Through Tyranny”. Sometimes his origin is tied to the “Autobots are actually not good guys” thing I hate so much, and sometimes it just falls short. The Marvel Comics origin comes closest but I know how I’d give Megatron a great origin that makes sense to his character. It ties to what would be my attempt to reconcile the Primus and Quintesson origins into one origin that partly builds on the idea of being living robots. Someday I hope to tell you that story, but other projects are currently more important. I don’t mind Megatron no longer being a gun, even though that’s what I grew up with. In addition to the current toy gun safety laws, that seem to get tighter with every new big news shooting event, someone like Megatron needing someone else to fire him doesn’t work. I’d accept a cannon, but as a front line commander, a tank frankly makes a lot more sense.

I’m still not sold on Transformers One, as I went over in my review of the teaser. I’m not won on the humor, and maybe I am too interested in my own origin ideas, but Bumblebee turned out to be a better movie than I expected. Maybe someday it will be a Finally Watched. At the very least it looks better than the live-action movies.

 

Posted by on September 21, 2024 in Animation Spotlight, Comic Spotlight, Movie Spotlight, Television Spotlight, Video Game Spotlight and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

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September 15, 2024

Jake & Leon #612> Another “One”

Name me a US Transformers movie that didn’t shove “more than meets the eye” into it.

What was wrong with the original origin for Optimus Prime, in the episode “War Dawn” that just had Orion Pax as a dock worker turned warrior after being betrayed by a robot he idolized, namely Megatron because he could fly. It’s a perfectly good origin.

I made a decision in the last couple of days and I go over it more detail in this week’s Clutter Report on trying to deal with my time maintenance problem. I have a bunch of stuff I haven’t been able to do because I don’t have a decent work schedule for this site, and really haven’t since all the medical issues. Even taking time off for a paying job didn’t help because my focus was on that job. So this week I’m going to take off from putting articles on the site and trying to create a work schedule that will allow me to do more than write articles. Maybe I can get some art done for the site like logos and Captain Yuletide, learn to use my gear, get another video captioned, and finally make a real dent in various YouTube, DVR, and RSS backlogs that date back to 2016!

It’s a good time to do it. Any comics in a cliffhanger state won’t be resolved for awhile anyway (poor Prime is still stuck on the moon), the next chapter of Op-Center: Mirror Image takes place after the last one, but the last one was just slipping a bugged coin under a door because every minor scene and time change is a new chapter with these books, and I’ve been struggling for article topics. I want to take time to setup a few evergreen articles so even if I do have to do one of these again, you’d never know it. I don’t expect to get all caught up, but I do want to make a dent in the backlogs, update my resumes, get some kind of monetary income, and start getting my life and work back on track.

Have a great week, everyone! We’ll see you this time next week with a new comic and hopefully a new plan and attitude.

Posted by on September 15, 2024 in Animation Spotlight, Jake & Leon, Movie Spotlight and tagged , , , , .

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September 14, 2024

Saturday Night Showcase>Star Trek: The Animated Series

Oh come on, Paramount Plus! You couldn’t keep this up until at least Saturday Night!

Well, I don’t have time to replace this, so my apologies. There is a version on their YouTube channel and Paramount+ on streaming, but I don’t know where to see the episodes elsewhere. Even the Pluto TV Star Trek channels don’t show it. They’re still treating the show terribly. It bothers me. So here’s what I said about the show, and I hope you find a way to watch it. Give it a chance.

Watch this one while you can. I’m just hoping Paramount Plus’ official YouTube channel doesn’t change their minds before this article goes live.

Star Trek: The Animated Series could be considered the last two years of the Enterprise‘s five year mission. Produced by Filmation, they had hoped to make it a prime time series. Hanna-Barbera had success there with Jonny Quest and The Flintstones and it has been attempted in years since, with only comedies like The Simpsons gaining any real ground. Instead, NBC agreed to air it, possibly because the original series was doing so well in syndication, but on Saturday mornings. The show lasted for two seasons, joining the original series’ three, thus the full five-year mission.

I would love to make this installment either “Yesteryear”, the episode that gave us a look into Spock’s past and the canon depiction of his pet sehlat, or “The Practical Joker”, which featured a proto-holodeck, complete with trying to kill the people inside. I don’t know why they kept using that thing. However, for Star Trek Day 2024 (September 8, 1966 being the original series’ debut), the official Paramount+ YouTube channel gave us first episodes of various Star Trek series, including the original and the other animated Star Trek, Lower Decks. (I don’t know about the third one, Prodigy, which I’ve already reviewed.)

So instead we get “Beyond The Furthest Star”, as NCC-1701 comes across a strange ship, which houses a very serious threat to the galaxy. Most of the original cast returns, minus Walter Koenig. James Doohan would actually voice numerous characters over the course of the series, and both Leonard Nimoy and George Takei would get some serious voice acting in after this. Takei already had done dubbing for Japanese movies (including a Godzilla movie) while Nimoy started a short-lived audio drama group. William Shatner played Two-Face in the last Batman ’66 direct to video animated movie before West passed away, the only time the character was interpreted into the 1966 style. I hope to see that someday. Still, we have this until they change their minds, so enjoy.

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Posted by on September 14, 2024 in Animation Spotlight, Saturday Night Showcase, Television Spotlight and tagged , , , , , .

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September 14, 2024

BW’s Saturday Article Link> How Comics Handled 9/11

 

Remembering 9/11

This week was the anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy, when terrorists flew two planes into the Twin Towers and a third the Pentagon, failing at the White House because the people on that plane learned what happened and sacrificed themselves to stop them. While we can’t obsess over such tragedies and need to move on, we should also never forget what happened, a remind to stay vigilant against those who despise freedom and happiness.

In a reposted article for Bleeding Fool, contributor Jamison Ashley takes a look back at how the comic industry, many publishers being New York residents at the time, responded to the those events.

Posted by on September 14, 2024 in Comic Spotlight, DC Spotlight, Marvel Spotlight and tagged , .

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