November 2, 2023

The Ultimate Spider-Marriage Is Not The Comeback We Wanted

Apparently the end of the Spider-Marriage in the main Marvel universe lasts forever. But Marvel thinks they can thrown Parkers fans a bone…in a reborn Ultimate universe.

I wasn’t planning to do two Spider-Man articles this week but I just learned on Tuesday about Marvel’s reborn Ultimate universe, or at least the imprint being reborn. This is not the universe Miles Morales escaped from, where Peter Parker died and Miles took over before it was ultimately (not sorry) destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass or whatever was going on in the latest event that I stopped caring about because events are a dime a dozen now and don’t hold the same meaning anymore.

No, this new Ultimate Spider-Man features a still breathing Peter Parker married to Mary Jane Watson. Now we know that 616 will never restore the Spider-Marriage. The Spider-Writers are too invested in making Peter a total loser who won’t keep a girlfriend for more than three storylines so we have no reason to get invested in his love life. It’s like those 80s TV action shows where Michael Knight or someone would meet a girl, they’d kiss at one point, and then they’re never brought up again. There’s no reason to care about Peter’s relationships outside of Aunt May. Even his ties to the Daily Bugle don’t seem to matter anymore.

So, fine. Alternate universe but at least we can finally see more of the Parker family, with Peter fighting crime and MJ as his support and all the cute, fun, and drama-laden moments that come with it. They’re even going to have kids…including Peter’s first son in the multiverse! Isn’t that great? Well, as usual the Mephisto is in the details, and that one was on purpose. When you look into what’s actually about to happen this isn’t what we wanted at all, because Marvel will not do that with Spider-Man anymore.

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Posted by on November 2, 2023 in Marvel Spotlight and tagged , , , , .

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November 2, 2023

“Yesterday’s” Comic> The Smurfs Free Comic Book Day 2014 (Silver Book)

“How can one Smurf weigh more than an elephant?”

The Smurfs Free Comic Book Day (Silver Book) 2014

Papercutz (2014)

LETTERER ON MOST STORIES: Janice Chiang

ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Michael Petranek

Another anthology featuring the Smurfs and other kids Papercutz comics. Chiang is the only recurring creator except for the one comic she’s not part of. I’ll list the rest with the review.

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Posted by on November 2, 2023 in Yesterday's Comics and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

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November 2, 2023

BW’s Daily Video> Why Villains Were The Key To Batman Beyond’s Success

Catch more from Nerdstalgic on YouTube

Ones I’d like to see him talk about are Stalker and, yes, Mad Stan. Also how Return Of The Joker showed us why Terry is different but unlike a lot of today’s replacements still Batman.

Posted by on November 2, 2023 in Animation Spotlight, DC Spotlight, Television Spotlight and tagged .

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November 1, 2023

The State Of Art Soundoff 2023?

A few years ago Jerzy Drozd and Rob Stenzinger started the Art Soundoff Challenge. Creators would take maybe 15 minutes to record an audio or video blog, a “micropodcast” I think is the term, and share it with everyone using the #ArtSoundoff hashtag on Twitter. It was a good way to share comic creating perspectives, go over what creators are thinking about, and just interact without actually sharing a stream. It was and still is a good idea.

I decided to join in the fun, and it was a good experience. I learned, got to share my point of view as critic and writer plus my experiences trying to improve my limited drawing skills. I took part every year, including the year I was out of commission for most of the year. I even dragged Jake and Max into it with special Art Soundoff editions of Jake & Leon from the perspective of comic strip characters who also make their own comics and art. (Jake and Max are art buddies, and that’s how Max was introduced to the comic.)

Last year I was the only participant. Actually, I think colorist Owen Jollands did one, but otherwise just me. Even Jerzy and Rob didn’t do one that I recall seeing. On my final Art Soundoff of the year I was questioning if I would even do one this year. This article is my answer, and the fact that it is an article instead of a v-log may already hint at my answer.

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Posted by on November 1, 2023 in Art Soundoff Challenge and tagged , .

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November 1, 2023

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Knuckles The Echidna #8

Enerjak spends time with his Chaotix Amiibos.

Knuckles #8

Archie Comics Publications (January, 1998)

“Dark Vengeance” part 2

WRITER: Ken Penders

PENCILER: Manny Galan

INKER: Andrew Pepoy

COLORIST: Barry Grossman

LETTERER: Vickie Williams

EDITOR: J. Freddy Gabrie

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Posted by on November 1, 2023 in Video Game Spotlight, Yesterday's Comics and tagged , , , , , .

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November 1, 2023

BW’s Daily Video> The Origin Of Tails And Knuckles

There’s a two minute Raid: Shadow Legends ad after the intro.

Catch more from Variant Comics on YouTube

Tails is my favorite Sonicverse character.

Posted by on November 1, 2023 in Video Game Spotlight and tagged , , , .

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October 31, 2023

An “Overly Sarcastic” Look At Spider-Man’s Black Costume Arc

 

I’m on record as really liking the black costume on Spider-Man because it makes him look more like a spider, man. It’s also easier to draw because you don’t need to do all those webpatterns. Get the white spider symbol correct, give a blue tint to the outer part of the body so it doesn’t blend into anything black (including itself), and you have a really good costume. The problem is by the time fans warmed up to it the creators were already trying to get rid of it after fans complained. Also Todd McFarlane but I don’t care what he thinks.

Going from “costume responding to Peter’s thoughts” to ” brain-eating symbiote” is quite the journey, but the following video by Overly Sarcastic Productions is more of an overview of Venom and the black costume, and how his early appearances have become a part of multiversal continuity. Like or hate him (and Sam Rami hated him but was forced to use him anyway), the various versions of the black goo symbiote are part of Spider-Man’s history and backstory. While Red and Blue don’t go over the entire history of Venom specifically and the symbiotes in general, and I wish it had been a full symbiote retrospective in comics, TV, and video games (this came out because of Venom’s debut in the Sony Spider-Man 2 game) but it’s still an interesting brief history and way too long for a quickpost. Also, I have thoughts I want to add. The title of the video is “The Symbiote: Spider-Man’s Perfect Flaw”, as they go over why Venom, or more specifically Peter’s history with the black costume have become part of Peter Parker’s story.

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Posted by on October 31, 2023 in Animation Spotlight, Marvel Spotlight, Movie Spotlight, Television Spotlight and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

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