November 20, 2023

Chapter By Chapter> Batman: Knightfall part 3 chapter 9

Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as a read-along book club.

PART 3: KnightsEnd

Here we are, the penultimate chapter of the entire book. This and next chapter are it, and we’ll be moving on to another book.

I had a revelation about the thing that has nagged me about the book. I hadn’t thought about the storyline as being a discussion of why Batman doesn’t kill, why a killing Batman isn’t as cool as it sounds, until the Owen Likes Comics discussion of the whole arc. However, I can at least theorize why the novelization really doesn’t focus on that, although of course I can’t ask Dennis O’Neil himself. He passed away in 2020.

The bulk of the chapters that make up the Knightfall storyline take place over three to five different titles, plus ramifications in other titles, from May, 1993 to September, 1994, with a number of contributing writers. That’s a lot of content to push into a novelization that’s only slightly larger than average. We’re talking around 100+ stories that had to be condensed. You know how movies are condensed versions of novels and movie novelizations are expanded takes on the (latest available draft for) the movie? Well, this is a case where the novelization had to do the condensing to be all one book. So O’Neil focused on Bruce trying to get stronger but still leaving enough of “Jean Paul sucks at being Batman” to make his return necessary. This should be the big fight in the Batcave, one of the issues I have and made a Friday Night Fight out of back when I was part of that gathering. Let’s see how the novel handles it.

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Posted by on November 20, 2023 in Batman: Knightfall, DC Spotlight and tagged , , , , , , , , .

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November 20, 2023

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #36

“What did you do with the other issues?”

Why #36? Well, the source that I was using to get the previously free released Mirage issues has dried up. Not knowing which issues were released free and which weren’t I don’t want to go to a…legally questionable scan site for the reviews, as I try to support the official release whenever possible. I don’t know what Nickelodeon, or current license holder IDW, is doing with the other issues. I’ve reviewed the Color Classics reprints, as well as the early IDW run, as part of the weekly comic reviews or Today’s Comic when they came out, so I’m going to review the two Mirage releases in my collection and move to the next company. There’s more but let’s save that for the review and get the credits done.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #36

Mirage Publishing, Inc (August, 1991)

“Souls End” according to the fandom wiki

WRITER/ARTIST: Michael Zulli

CO-LETTERER: Rob Caswell

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Posted by on November 20, 2023 in Yesterday's Comics and tagged , .

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November 20, 2023

BW’s Daily Video> The Dog That Destroyed A Game Store

Catch more from Larry Bundy on YouTube

 

Posted by on November 20, 2023 in Video Game Spotlight and tagged , , .

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November 19, 2023

Jake & Leon #579: Web Of Adaptation

Turns out they slapped the name on an original character. Typical for Sony with or without Marvel Studios.

Madame Web isn’t even a well know character in the Marvel universe. If it wasn’t for the 90s Spider-Man cartoon I couldn’t tell you who she is. The original was Cassandra Web and the current is former Spider-Woman II Julia Carpenter. The one in Sony’s namesake movie is named Cassandra but looks like Julia, who is one of the various lady spider heroes that she’s supposed to protect. and there is nothing accurate about any of them. Also one of the characters is annoying and I already don’t like her. Apparently the only teenage black girl that exists in Hollywood is sassy to the point of obnoxious. They need to get out and meet real people. There’s more variety in personality when it comes to black teens.

This is all I’m planning to say about this movie. It’s Sony’s Spiderverse’s version of the Harley Quinn movie, where nobody matches their actual personality in the comics and what we get is a poor replacement for better characters. That’s what the current trailer’s telling me, anyway.

Over at The Clutter Reports this week my original project proved to be unnecessary so I just did something to have an article this week. I’m more accepting of my fate there because it’s a different kind of project than what I’m doing here.

So this is an almost full week. The second to last chapter of Batman: Knightfall, the second anniversary catch-up article because I missed a few years, and beginning the lore dump of Transformers: Beast Machines season one for this week’s installment of Beast Machine Hunters. That gives me two days to play with. Should be interesting Tuesday and Wednesday, though hopefully it’ll be interesting the other days as well.

I have, however, hit a snag. The site I was using to get the originally free released classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics doesn’t have any more issues. I’m still searching the hopes I can pick this up, but that means for the time being I’m going to the comics I haven’t reviewed, and I did all the Color Classics reprints when they came out, as part of either the weekly reviews or Today’s Comic. That means I’m going to go through what I have in the Archie run, with the crossover with the actual Archie characters set for a Scanning My Collection article. Too bad. I have the “Return To New York storyline in the Color Classics, but I only own two issues of the original run, and they weren’t great issues. If I have time to go through the whole list and come up goose eggs I’ll review those two prior to the Archie run. As of this writing I don’t have time to get this post out on time knowing which is which. You’ll know by 12 noon ET Monday.

Have a great week, everyone! And an early Happy Thanksgiving to my US readership.

Posted by on November 19, 2023 in Jake & Leon, Marvel Spotlight, Movie Spotlight and tagged , , , , , , , , .

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November 18, 2023

Saturday Night Showcase> Transformers: Rescue Bots

Kids shows get a bum rap all the time. I try changing that by showing that “maturity” isn’t about violence and gore and “complexity” doesn’t have to be so complex that you can’t root for anyone. I like having set good and evil as starters, with complexity coming from those caught in-between. That’s where the redemption arcs and falls from grace happen.

Kids shows have bright colors but adult shows used to have more than three. They have happy endings, characters you can connect to if you aren’t the type to insist a character has to literally be you before you care. They’re also fun, but you can spot a bad kids show a mile away…even if you’re a kid. Respect your audience at any age group. So when in a recent video (not a post; goes to YouTube) TJOmega was talking about how he couldn’t get into Rescue Bots because it was too kiddie, I was rather disappointed. As a Transformers series only the lack of Decepticons keeps it from fitting in. And characters from this and the sequel series, Rescue Bots Academy, intermingle with the other “Aligned Continuity” shows Transformers Prime and Robots In Disguise (the second one). They got together about as well as any of the other “Aligned” shows, comics, games and novels. Admittedly that isn’t saying much since there was little actual aligning between the various product but that’s another argument.

So tonight let’s watch the first two episodes of Transformers: Rescue Bots. Four rescue worker Autobots, something thought lost during the war between Autobots and Decepticons, are awakened from stasis by a signal from Optimus Prime seeing other Autobots. To help them learn about Earth and blend in, the rescue bots are assigned to Griffin Rock, working undercover as the type of robots that wouldn’t be out of place in the high-tech testing ground this island functions as. Thanks to official YouTube channels, I get show you how their adventures began, plus a special bonus video about the franchise because I can. Enjoy.

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Posted by on November 18, 2023 in Animation Spotlight, Saturday Night Showcase, Television Spotlight and tagged , , , , .

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November 18, 2023

“Yesterday’s” Comic> The Blue Beetle #34

The early concept art for Attack On Titan just looks off.

The Blue Beetle #34

Fox Features Publications (September, 1944)

Well, so far the stories have been improving. Most of the stories have been about Dan and his friends, and the writing’s been good…not counting the supposedly funny stories like the one-panel comic strips or the O’Brine Twins. Sadly both are back, as is a serial that gets continued next issue but isn’t the last comic in the list, which already seems like a mistake, with another Blue Beetle story and a Joan Mason tale coming after it.

[Read along with me here]

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Posted by on November 18, 2023 in Yesterday's Comics and tagged , , , .

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November 17, 2023

Beast Machine Hunters> The First Season Guide part 5

Last time on Beast Machine Hunters we started looking at Megatron and his Vehicons. This week’s installment will be a bit shorter as we conclude our look at the enemies of this series.

Taking the sparks of the Maximals’ friends and turning them into their enemies through the same shell program that awakened Blackarachnia on Earth as a Predacon was actually a smart move on Megatron’s part. The generals were created to open resources since he couldn’t focus on maintaining Cybertron and fighting the Maximals with the entire drone army at the same time. One thing he learned is that when you’re the manipulative type, control is a big issue. Inferno was easy because he served “the royalty” and if he hadn’t been blown up for good he might have made a better ally. Except that Inferno was messed up from his troubled awakening and would still need a shell program just to control the havoc he’d create.

When it came to Tarantulas he at best could figure out what he was planning and figure out how to use it to his advantage. Scorponok was loyal but a dope. Everyone else only followed him out of force, and both Terrorsaur and Rampage would have happily betrayed him for their own ends. Quickstrike and Waspinator were weapons in search of a target and not too bright. Dinobot’s clone was probably the closest to what Megatron envisioned for his generals, so there is some evolution there, while the original Dinobot was all about honor and was a Predacon probably out of ancestry and a desire to be a warrior.

As I noted in my commentary on Vehicon Generals, Megatron knew through these experiences how to manipulate the shell programs to his end. Silverbolt and Rhinox were both restrained by different things, so remove those restraints. Waspinator just wanted to be cool and respected, which Thrust was until his identity was revealed. Then the writers just wrote him like Waspinator, which was a detriment to the character in general and Thrust’s growth apart from Waspinator specifically. In this section we have one more general and a discussion of the drones…including everyone’s favorite drone. We’ll get to him later. Let’s get that last general first.

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Posted by on November 17, 2023 in Animation Spotlight, Beast Machines/Hunters: Transformers, Show Bibles & Pitches, Television Spotlight and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

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