“Will you stop asking if this is my fantasy? What kind of person do you think I am?”
Star Power #28
(February, 2020)
“The Life Smugglers” part 3
WRITER: Michael Terracciano
ARTIST: Garth Graham
I’d ask why won’t Zach Snyder shut up, but this time Joe Rogan got him to talk about it.
Snyder recently appeared on Joe Rogan Experience talking about his various works. Apparently Rogan is a fan of Snyder’s work and the Snyderverse. That means when Snyder said something stupid, Rogan got in on saying equally stupid things. As you can guess from my article title, they BOTH think superheroes should kill, that it makes no sense for them not to kill. Thankfully, these two will never be superheroes. In most comic worlds, superheroes are vigilantes the police work with because supervillains exist and the laws make them harder to fight. Plus the superpowers and one of a kind gadgets don’t help. You won’t want supercops, but that’s sort of the role superheroes fill in classic superhero stories. That’s not how it started but it’s how those universes evolved.
There are reasons these heroes don’t kill, and there are those of us who gravitate towards those heroes. Sometimes we want to watch Arnold shoot up a bunch of baddies, sometimes we don’t. There’s a reason Chuck Norris has been both a lethal and non-lethal hero depending on the project. Some of us don’t want Batman to be the Punisher even if we enjoy both. (I’ve never really gotten into the Punisher outside of his original miniseries myself.) In fact, in JLA/Avengers, Batman tells everyone not to interfere with this universe because they don’t know how the Marvel Universe rules operate…and then jumps right in to stop the Punisher minutes after saying that. Plastic Man rightly called him out on the hypocrisy but that’s who Batman is, someone who doesn’t kill, even the villains. However, Snyder has two comics he really loves: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. I don’t have a problem with that, but what gets on my nerves is the believe that every superhero story should follow those books.
So if Snyder’s not going to stop defending his universe, I’m not going to stop telling him why I think he’s wrong. These are characters I grew up with. They meant something to me at a time I really needed them, and the version that Snyder made and Rogan defends in the following video are not those characters. Do I hate Zack Snyder? No. All I know about him is that he made terrible stories with characters who got me through a bad point in my life. I do hate what he did, and I have problems with his point of view on characters when he clearly doesn’t understand our issue beyond “they’re fans and passionate about their take”, but he’s still wrong. In the video he refers to “character canon” as “god”, and that’s something I can go after him for as a critic.
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Don’t worry, the acronyms are not going to be a trend.
Homebrew. Slate. Choose a name!
C.R.I.T. #0
Homebrew Comics (2021)
Okay, so the title is either “Character Sheets”, which is the one I see more often in the descriptions, or “Welcome To Orientation”, which looks like a title the way it’s presented on the inside cover. Also note that I’m using the Drive Thru Comics version, but there is a free version from Homebrew themselves. I am not aware of any changes.
WRITERS: Christopher Michael, Austin Ferguson, Brad Hayes, Obie Dancy, & Terreyl Wilkins
ARTIST: Nathan Broughton
COLORISTS: Jack Sloan & Nathan Broughton
LETTERER: Christopher Michael
EDITORS: Christopher Michael, Brad Hayes, & Terreyl Wilkins
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TO: Skybound Entertainment FROM: ShadowWing Tronix, BW Media Spotlight RE: Optimus' Graveyard Is Too Full
Dear Skybound,
For the record, I’m not too interested in the more adult take on Transformers you opted to go with. Between the already high human body count and the senseless death of my boy Bumblebee it doesn’t really invoke what made me a Transformers fan as a kid, nor the nostalgia that makes want to read and watch Transformers stories as an adult. This is not a critique or a rant. It’s just personal preference. Apparently you have enough readers that disagree with me and think it’s great,so you do you. They also enjoy the EarthSpark TV show but I found it a bit dull as I just can’t get into post-war stories long-term (though I do enjoy pre-war when Cybertron isn’t just fighting over which tyranny gets to run the planet) and thought previous shows did the few good elements better. That’s a whole other conversation.
All of that said, I have heard praise for your current treatment of Optimus Prime. One example sited by one particular Transformer fan I still follow is a scene where Optimus accidentally kills a deer, learns how fragile non-machine life is, and vows to protect it. Missing the context, I’m going to take their word for it when they say you have the best take on Optimus Prime in a while, which is faint praise when you remember IDW had him take over Earth as part of a “Cybertronian Empire” to “protect us”. Therefore, maybe you are finally the creators who can end a streak that has gone on way too long in this franchise: the constant deaths and resurrections of Optimus Prime in the Transformers Multiverse.
Pun totally intended, this is a plot that has been done to death, as it seems like every continuity since the original comic and cartoon runs are under the impression that dying and coming back is just part of being an Optimus Prime, or at least putting him at near death. Maybe if I can show you how overdone this idea is you’ll break the trend and let Optimus be Optimus.
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I’m sure there’s a rafting joke in here someplace, but nothing’s coming to me.
Sonic The Hedgehog #61
Archie Comic Publications (August, 1998)
LETTERER: Jeff Powell
EDITOR: J. Freddy Gabrie
“Outback Gut Check”
WRITER: Mike Gallagher
ARTIST: Harvo Mercadoocasio
COLORIST: Frank Gaguardo
“Total Turbulence”
WRITER: Karl Bollers
PENCILER: Steven Butler
INKER: Jim Amash
COLORIST: Frank Gaguardo
Tales Of The Freedom Fighters: “On His Majesty’s Secret Service”
WRITER/INKER/COLORIST: Ken Penders
PENCILER: Art Mawhinney
BW Media Spotlight 
BW’s Daily Video> Modern Movies’ Miserable Messages
Warning: contains swearing and a drunken Scottish man.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on March 8, 2024 in Movie Spotlight and tagged commentary, movies.
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