In space, nobody can hear you spin.
Sonic The Hedgehog #74
Archie Comic Publications (September, 1999)
LETTERER: Jeff Powell
EDITOR: J.F. Gabrie
“Don’t Call It A Come Back!”
WRITER: Karl Bollers
PENCILER: Steven Butler
INKER: Pam Eklund
COLORIST: Frank Gagliardo
Tales Of The Great War: “Enter…Robotnik”
WRITER: Ken Penders
ARTISTS: Art Mawhinney & Jim Amash
COLORIST: Barry Grossman
In our last installment we got a bit of the backstage of the show, what it takes to create a show with sets and props and stuff. This time we finish with some more story ideas, to really wow the suits…who don’t really care about science fiction or stories. They just want to see if they’re going to make more money. A rant for another time, perhaps.
In previous guides and pitches, seeing what crosses over from the concept to the final product has always been the most interesting plot. Getting to see what was intended versus what we got gives us trivia we didn’t have before. In Batman: The Animated Series we learned Mr. Freeze was originally going to get his comic origin rather than the one everyone today knows. In Star Trek: The Next Generation we confirmed Stardates are worthless, and just there to be in the future.
There are four pages of potential story ideas in the pitch alone, plus one more for a final bit of set-up. So let’s try to finish here and go to the guide next week.
Sounds more like a 2020s comic than a 1960s comic.
Blue Beetle #5
Charlton Comics Group (November, 1968)
Blue Beetle: “Faces The Destroyer Of Heroes” and The Question: “The Critic”
SCRIPT: D.C. Glanzman
ARTIST/QUESTION PLOT: Steve Ditko
LETTERER: A Machine
Last time, our Legion Of Commie got together to finalize their plans to restore the Soviet Union.
This time we’re looking at two chapters. Chapter 10 comes in at four pages and Chapter 11 at just under four and a half. Including space for chapter numbers and that calendar system they use that comes out to almost nine pages, a fair chapter count, and I have time to review that much this week.
We’ll be spending these two chapters stateside, with the first in New York, which I’m betting focuses on the bagel gang, and the other in Washington, DC, meaning more of the Superdopes. Op-Center didn’t have to deal with crap at home except for each other. This time they’re going to have to deal with home and abroad with their evil twins, and without their leader. These might be interesting stories separately, and later on after we really get these guys into a level of competency (assuming it isn’t the fact that this is a new program in this universe that is at part responsible for their mistakes, but I like to give the benefit of the doubt). I still say neither would work for their second adventure, and yet we have both situations. It might all work out, but I have my doubts. Let’s dive in to the two chapters and find out.
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
BW Media Spotlight 
Miller & Snyder: Why I Hate Their Views On Batman And Superman
Well look who said something stupid. Again.
I’m at a point where I’m willing to call Frank Miller overrated. Apparently he did some good stories, but I’m never exposed to them. Whatever good faith he earned with The Dark Knight Returns, a story I clearly don’t share the world’s opinion on, should have been gone with All-Star Batman & Robin and what he did to Wil Eisner’s The Spirit in the movies. Learning that he disagreed with Eisner in how the character Eisner created should be depicted by Eisner, I’m convinced that movie was Miller trying to prove he was right…and only succeeded in doing the opposite and killing any chance the character had to get out of the comics. Then again, Judge Dredd and the Punisher each got a second chance as a movie, so anything’s possible.
Then there’s Zack Snyder. You know, the guy who said if someone thinks superheroes wouldn’t kill they live in a fantasy world…ignoring the fact that creating fantasy worlds is literally his job. He made Superman kill and every attempt to defend that movie makes me dislike the movie more…and I’m the guy who said Man Of Steel was a good superhero movie, just a bad Superman movie. The more he forces me to think about it, the more I change my opinion. His Batman was sentencing thugs to death. This to him is what real heroes are, psychos and whiny boys. The man is the embodiment of what I was talking about earlier in the month when discussing the fading use of bright colors in Hollywood. I’m not surprised that Snyder is a huge Frank Miller fans. Both like bleak and depressing takes on heroes I love. Just Miller is more in love with cities and sleazy women.
So, what happens when two bad tastes are brought together like the peanut butter cup of my nightmares? You get this interview from the Inverse magazine site, as Zack Snyder interviews Frank Miller…and reminds me why I don’t like either of their takes on the superheroes that most created my tastes and got me through my young life. Of course I have to dissect this one after I heard about it. Bounding Into Comics just reported on it. I’m here to deconstruct the deconstructors. Hold on to your hard hats, kids! They think BATMAN is the happier character of the two.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on October 23, 2024 in DC Spotlight, Movie Spotlight and tagged Batman, commentary, Frank Miller, Interview, Superman, Zack Snyder.
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