The only thing gold here is the sponsor level for Free Comic Book Day.
The Smurfs: Free Comic Book Day Gold Book
Papercutz (2013)
The Smurfs (three stories)
WRITER/ARTIST: Peyo
TRANSLATION: Joe Johnson
LETTERER: Janice Chiang
CONSULTANT: Matt Murray
The Annoying Orange: “Bowling For Hollers”
WRITER/ARTIST: Mike Kazaleh
COLORIST: Laurie E. Smith
LETTERER: Tom Orzechowski
Ariol: “A Good Book”
WRITER: Emmanuel Guibert
ARTIST: Mac Boutavant
LETTERER: Michael Petranek
Some swearing in this one. I’m trying to decide if there’s irony in that.
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It’s no secret to anyone who’s been on this site that I love superheroes. Superheroes are awesome not because of what they can do. The supervillains can do that stuff, too. What sets the superhero apart is right there in the name: hero. With all their great abilities they seek to make the world better, and the best superheroes don’t see themselves as gods but people with special abilities and doodads that they use in service to humanity.
From comic books to cartoons I’ve grown up with the superhero. Whether DC or Marvel or some indie comic, Hanna-Barbera or Filmation and later Ruby-Spears, there is not been a point in my story-loving life that I haven’t seen superheroes, as I mentioned yesterday. What makes a hero a hero beyond the idea of saving others, and how does that translate to the super variety? YouTuber Shady Doorags recently posted a review of the Justice League episode “Legends”. The series was intended to be hour-long episodes but Cartoon Network told them to make them half-hour, so the scripts had to be worked into two-parters…that Cartoon Network aired back to back as a full hour anyway, just in case you thought scheduling from the stupidity range was something started with Teen Titans Go!. In the following video, Shady goes over the tale of Green Lantern John Stewart, The Flash, Hawkgirl, and Martian Manhunter finding themselves in an alternate dimension where John’s favorite comic book comes to life. Not the first time this concept has happened, even when fictional realities meet other fictional realities that are fiction in the first fictional reality.
Good luck translating that sentence. Point is it’s not a new plot but one that has opportunities when done right. “Legends” is just such a story, but I’ll let our guest speaker do the talking before coming back with my thoughts.
If your response is “this comic is for the birds”, please apologize in the comments.
Sonic Blast
Archie Comics Publications (1997)
“FRONTISPIECE”: Pat Spaz & Pam Ekland
COLORIST: Karl Bollers
EDITOR: J. Freddy Gabrie
“Sonic Blast”
WRITER: Mike Gallagher
PENCILER: Art Mawhinney
INKER: Rich Koslowski
LETTERER: Jeff Powell
“Bugged Bunnie” & “The T.U.F.F. Awards”
WRITER: Angelo Decesare
PENCILER: Dave Manak
INKER: Pam Ekland (story 2); Pat Spaz (story 3)
LETTERER: Mindy Eisman
So it’s still out there. I saw a video today denouncing the concept of superhero fatigue because Hollywood and their willing propaganda machine are still trying to blame superhero fatigue for the current fall of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and why the DC Movieverse is filled with problems. Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn even joined the chorus this week, though at least he’s only suggesting a slowdown instead of a full stop and actually addressing the problems with the movies themselves. (Then again he liked The Flash(point movie), so judge him accordingly. I haven’t seen it nor plan to.) The rest are pushing the “superhero fatigue” narrative hard. This is total BS pushed upon us by auteur directors, writers who don’t want to write this stuff but need the paycheck, and a collection of activists, misery obsessed types, media snobs, and everything for meeeeeeeeeeeeee types that make up the modern press. Even supposed geek media says people are done with superheroes.
My response is in there.
Not a year of my life, including the first few years I wasn’t really paying attention to (being a baby or toddler at the time), has gone by without more than one live-action or animated superhero TV show or movie being released. Even the old radio shows gave us Superman, the Green Hornet, the Blue Beetle, and the Shadow. Serials gave us the original Captain Marvel, Batman, the “rocket men”, and still more Superman. The superhero genre isn’t even accounting for half the movies and shows out there now, even with the saturation on Disney+, and rarely are there two new superhero shows going on there at the same time, though it has happened. The idea that people are tired of superheroes is such a crock of bull that I’m starting to get ticked off about it. You know what the real issue is? CRAP Fatigue. Allow me to explain.
And yet he’s scared of elevators.
Share Your Universe Ultimate Spider-Man Preview
This is not tied to the Ultimate universe but the Disney XD cartoon that only shares the name. I reviewed the pilot when it came out.
Marvel Comics (July, 2013)
ADAPTATION: Chris Eliopoulos, from a script by Paul Dini
EDITOR: Jordan D. White
I’d list the art team but they don’t list one, just a bunch of art directors and other jobs. I believe, and it’s been a while, they’re just using screencaps of the cartoon. That’s kind of lame, but better than doing a live-action photo comic.
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 
BW Daily Videos> DC’s Six Issue Scam
Some swearing in the following two videos. Perch is getting a potty mouth in his old age. 😀
A month later he dropped a follow-up.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on October 25, 2023 in DC Spotlight and tagged comic sales, commentary, DC Comics.
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