Interesting poster. Now show us the comic cover. Oh, right, 2000s comic.
The Immortal Iron Fist #4
Marvel Comics (May, 2007)
“The Last Iron Fist Story” part 4
WRITERS: Ed Brubaker & Matt Fraction
PENCILERS: David Aja, Travel Foreman, & Sal Buscema
INKERS: David Aja, Derek Fridolfs, & Tom Palmer
COLORIST: Matt Hollingsworth
LETTERER: Dave Lanphear
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Alejandro Arbona
EDITOR: Warren Simons
Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans, but don’t forget there’s more to this day than fireworks and picnics. Take some time to remember how you ended up in a free country, the sacrifices of our ancestors, and even if you acknowledge the mistakes we made, we have gotten better and it’s still a wonderful country to live in. The experiment never truly ends.
Our last chapter kind of got into the role play involved with how Batman in particular approaches superhero alter egos. We saw how he and Alfred took on their personas, Bruce so into the role he’s playing in his investigation that even the narrator refers to them as their fake identities rather than their regular selves. Meanwhile, John Paul is slowly corrupting his identity and there’s not much Tim/Robin can seem to do about it.
This does play well into this storyline’s theme of identities and corrupting the symbol of the Bat by Valley crossing that line and becoming judge, jury, and executioner, basically deciding who lives and who dies rather than the legal system. Valley plays by the other System, itself a corruption of Catholic sainthood and the ideals of the Catholic Church (whose record is admittedly spotty in spots and I say that as someone with a minor Catholic upbringing who doesn’t hate Catholicism just because a few parties lost their path along the journey). Will we see a further fall, and will Bruce get closer to saving Shondra and Jack? Let’s find out.
Wraparound cover, not a really long comic book. Apparently they couldn’t afford to color the cover.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3
Mirage Studios (March, 1985)
“The Great Chase” and “Epilogue”
WRITERS/ARTISTS: Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird
LETTERER: Kevin Eastman
LIke a local DJ team used to say, wherever you go, there you are…but you can’t get there from here.
Hey, I’m a week or so away from 50. I’m bound to feel a bit introspective. And lost.
No Clutter Report again this week because I had another family gathering and it’s been a distracting week. Thankfully less distracting than last week. I do however have a quick v-log to drop in here.
This paragraph may change if I can get the autocaptions working. When it comes to the reviews I need to let YouTube attempt to caption it and then fix its errors. I can’t find a program to do it for me and as far as this particular upload goes I couldn’t get autocaptions to come up. Otherwise, captioning is going to be more difficult than I thought.
Also coming this week is the next Chapter By Chapter review of Batman: Nightfall and whatever else I come across or thing up. Have a great week, everyone!
Earlier this week I did a Free Comic Inside article about one of the pack-in minicomics for Ideal’s Robo Force toyline. Robots with “crusher arms” (using something like a flexible hose I think) and suction cup bottoms, the mostly cylinder-shaped robots didn’t stand a chance with the transforming robots Transformers and GoBots, the robot construction set Robotix, and other such toys. Still, you can find nostalgic fans of the toys and the minicomic was a bit uneven thanks to its low page count.
And yet those fans kept the line going. Toyfinity made a series of Robo Force toys using the Glyos system, a system using a set of interchangeable limbs, not just gear. Our old pal Jerzy Drozd did the art for a tie-in webcomic that as of this writing is still available. Earlier in 2023 toy company Nacelle released a reimagined take on the Robo Force, with Maxx Zero (the new name for Maxx Steele, probably to avoid confusion with the various Max Steel toylines and shows) and friends as bipedal robots looking more like mechsuits in body type. They’ve also announced a cartoon based on this new concept.
Tonight I bring you the original cartoon, a half-hour pilot produced by Ruby-Spears Productions based on the original idea (no pun intended). Journey with us now to the planet Zeton as Mark Fury leads Maxx Steele and his Robo Force to stop the evil Hun-Dredd and the cult of Nazgar from resurrecting an ancient evil general and hopefully find his father. It’s a bit rushed due to the time but you will get an idea about what the show might have been. Back in the 1980s these pilots would be released as specials, to see if it could grab an audience. They weren’t promoted very well, so if it ever aired in my area I wasn’t aware of it. It is interesting to watch now. Enjoy.
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
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BW Media Spotlight 