Just another family gathering for Shadiversity and Jazza.
Prince Valiant: Free Comic Book Day Special Edition
Fantagraphics (April, 2013)
WRITER/ARTIST: Hal Foster
EDITOR: Kim Thompson
Prince Valiant is a long-running newspaper comic strip about a prince whose country was taken over by villains. He found a new home in Camelot, raised a family, and has had many adventures. This sampler features stories appearing in Prince Valiant: Volume 7 by Fantagraphics, collecting stories from 1949-1950.
A long time I posted a Saturday Night Showcase for a different form of storytelling. Chris Pearson of PopCross Studios took the characters from a book series he once worked on and gave them brand new stories, telling them while speedpainting the characters. Speedpaints and lore have now become part of Pearson’s main work, creating stories of Venom-type symbiote invasions in other realities, different characters being everything from dragons to kaiju to Transformers, and going over different realities and different types of heroes, villains, and creatures.
Among the recurring story ideas is the continuing adventures of his book characters (or possibly reboots) along with new characters he created in other speedpaint stories. Together they’re known as the Multiverse Tales, the continuing story of a band of heroes from across their arm of the multiverse standing up to great evils and making friends (and even a few lovers) along the way. Sometimes even literally.
In my YouTube backlog I finally came upon an episode of Multiverse Tales that serves as a “for those who came in late” catch-up of the various characters, plus the introduction of four new characters based on submissions by his fans, making this also part of his monthly “community redraw” segment. Tonight, in an attempt to get my schedule on track…again…I’m presenting this special edition of Multiverse Tales so you can meet the whole gang, catch up with the lore, and see if it’s something you might like to check out. Think of it as a bonus showcase this week to make up for not having one last week.
“Spider-Man and Batman both warned me there’d be days like this.”
Sonic The Hedgehog #44
Archie Comics (March, 1997)
“Black And Blue And Red All Over”
WRITER: Ken Penders
PENCILER: Manny Galan
INKER: Andrew Pepoy
COLORIST: Barry Grossman
LETTERER: Vickie Williams
EDITOR: Justin “Freddy” Gabrie
This is NOT a review of The Menu. I have not seen The Menu. I do not PLAN to see The Menu in the future. If you try to tell me how great a movie it is, I will tell you that I don’t do thrillers, I’m happy my initial concern that he was planning to make gourmet Soylent Green ISN’T part of the plot (it’s not, is it?) but a movie where the staff is just going to kill everybody for being elitist jerks despite how little I care for elitist jerks is not something I want to watch. Unlike when I defend my review of trailers and press releases I can see where the confusion would lie so I am telling you straight up I am not reviewing the movie.
What I am doing is using a recent review of the movie by The Critical Drinker (so expect swearing in the video but he keeps the gory parts out of it) of The Menu, a movie he very much enjoys, thus proving he enjoys something other than Tatyana the…adult entertainment specialist and a tall scotch. I’m using it as a springboard to a larger discussion of the connection between critics and the audience with the artists who make our entertainment. I was listening to the Literature Devil‘s Morning Nonsense stream this morning when he and his guest hosts were analyzing the movie and the Drinker’s review, but they’ve seen and also enjoyed the movie.
It’s the Drinker’s analysis that I’m focusing on here because watching the review got some of my wheels going from an external perspective outside of the movie. Watch the review (again, cursing but no gore) and then I’ll explain what I mean.
Danny Rand’s home renovation show was…interesting.
The cover image you see to the left is also the cover for the Comixology version of the digital trade collection of “The Last Iron Fist “story, which is where the next set of Tuesday Marvel reviews will be coming from.
The Immortal Iron Fist #1
Marvel Comics (January, 2007)
“The Last Iron Fist Story” part 1
WRITERS: Ed Brubaker & Matt Fraction
PENCILERS: David Aja & Travel Foreman
INKERS: David Aja & Derek Fridolfs
COLORIST: Matt Hollingsworth
LETTERER: Dave Lanphear
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Alejandro Arbona
EDITOR: Warren Simons
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’s Daily Video> An Analysis Of Grimdark
Catch more from Overly Sarcastic Productions on YouTube
Special thanks to Caroline Furlong, who posted this on her blog, which is where I saw it.
Someday I might do a Trope Shark article with my own thoughts, but mostly I agree with Red. Hopelessness is not my jam either, especially with what I’ve gone through and I could imagine it being worse for those who didn’t have the same benefits that got me through. Now if the hero is supposed to dispel the grimdark world, count me in!
Tell others about the Spotlight:
Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on June 8, 2023 in Uncategorized and tagged commentary, grim and gritty, grimdark, tropes.
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