“I knew I shouldn’t have gotten the cheap ‘lazer circle’ knockoff!”
Tron #6
FINAL ISSUE
WRITERS: Landry Walker & Eric Jones
ARTIST: Michael Shoyket
COLORIST: Guru E-FX (which I just found out is the name of a colorist and not a coloring program; this is why I don’t like gag credits)
LETTERER: Douglas Dlin
EDITOR: Dan Vado
Catch more from Screen Junkies on YouTube
Sure I could have used the ACTUAL trailer, but where’s the fun in that? Anyway, I’ve got OverClocked Remix’s Mario playlist going on in the background, so let’s talk Mario Brothers. Did you hear the movie is out? The good one that actually takes place in the Mushroom Kingdom instead of some urban sci-fi city where dinos and mushrooms all evolved into humans for reasons? I’m a creationist and even I know that’s not how that works. Super Mario Brothers the live-action movie was a flop and rightly so, and fans of the plumber siblings have been wanting a proper adaptation ever since that trainwreck smashed into theaters.
It seems we finally have it in the form of The Super Mario Brothers Movie. I hear it’s really good, and that was after concerns in the animation community who weren’t fans of Illumination’s work declaring it would be terrible. Sure, look at the competition between the live-action movie and that rather odd anime that was found a few years ago, but the TV shows are still liked by fans. So Illumination apparently learned from those shows. Peach may not be the damsel in distress but she still needs help and struggles like any good hero, is only good because she’s had more practice, and if you’re honest with yourself we’ve seen her join the action on and off ever since Super Mario Bros. 2 so it’s not completely ridiculous that Princess Peach Toadstool could join in the day saving. No, this isn’t the dealbreaker for me when it comes to Illumination’s film.
It’s also not the references that even look blatant in the trailers. Did we really need a scene in Super Mario Kart? Bringing in the antagonist from Wrecking Crew was cool and maybe they even grabbed Stanley The Bug Man from Donkey Kong 3 (see if he’s in the background having a salad or something) but for someone who hasn’t seen it this just feels like “hey, look at the obscure stuff we know” references rather than anything that matters to the plot. That’s usually a bad sign but thankfully they seem to have made it work. I do like the Super Mario Brothers Super Show theme for the Mario Brothers Plumbing commercial. They even made the website for their business, which is always a fun touch–and may or may not be active depending on when you read this.
It’s nearly everything a fan of the games and extended media could want…unless you’re me because I’m a picky schmuck at times and this is one of those times. The same thing happened with Scooby-Doo: Mask Of The Blue Falcon. It’s intended to be a tribute to the original work but doesn’t give me what I wanted from the original work. I know enough about this movie’s plot to know that this wasn’t the movie I wanted to see. So what did I want from a Super Mario Brothers movie? More brothers.
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
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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