In this issue: A group of Billy Batson fanatics dress as the Avengers to get their revenge.
The Avengers #89
Marvel Comics (June, 1971–as posted in the comiXology digital version of the Kree/Skrull War trade collection)
“The Only Good Alien”
WRITER: Roy Thomas
PENCILER: Sal Buscema
INKER: Sam Grainger
no colorist credited
LETTERER: Sam Rosen
EDITOR: Stan Lee
Catch more from Harbo Wholmes on YouTube
I made the following comment to the video:
I’ll add to this. For those of us in the US this is the first time New Who has been behind the paywall to see it at all. PBS, Sci-Fi, Disney Channel, and BBC America may each require cable–except for PBS if you had or have a TV antenna–but you didn’t pay extra since it comes with everything else on that tier. Also nobody’s talking about the fate of the Classic Who streaming channels on Pluto TV (owned by Paramount) and Freevee (owned by Amazon, the former IMDB TV) run by Britbox and what will happen to them. Already BBC America no longer has the show on cable’s on demand library so this may be next. So people like me who can’t afford Disney+ are out of luck.
(I didn’t note that none of the spin-off shows with the exception of Australia’s K9 never aired in the US to my knowledge. That would include the adult show Torchwood, the kids show The Sarah Jane Adventures (canceled when Elisabeth Sladen passed away) and other programs. I also have to wonder what happens to the animated recreations of lost episodes using recorded dialog. Where will those air now? If they’re also Disney+ exclusive I’ll never get to see those either. Back to the comment.)
Additionally I have my own issues with the Davies era. His “Christmas” specials took holiday iconography and turned it evil, an extension of his “make the mundane scary” approach combined with his dislike of Christmas (or at least Christians, as he’s stated in interviews). Then there’s the immature stuff like Tooth & Claw (the entire episode-Love & Monsters isn’t nearly as bad as this one) or the farting space nudists. Then there’s the “God Doctor” as I call 10 due to various stories that seem to elevate the Doctor to godhood rather than just being someone who traveled around helping people. Everything had to be —>EPIC!!!!!!<— now and it lost the charm of the original show for me. And let’s not forget the raw deal Donna got at the end of Davies’ previous run like every other Companion who wasn’t Rose Tyler. Maybe he’ll finally fix that mistake but I’m not so convinced.
So I have my own reasons to not be happy with the current events, in addition to everything you brought up in the video.
In the previous chapter Jake finally met with Danenberg and we learned the Kittridges may not be the nice people we hoped they were. I can’t say I’m surprised because we aren’t allowed to have heroes anymore. What is their real plan for their anti-Tek device? Maybe this chapter we’ll learn a little more. Probably not everything, given that we aren’t even half-way through the book (though may be if not this week then next week), but hopefully it will be more story and less The Future!!!!!! in our future.
This is going to be a short chapter, about five pages in my copy plus another blank page between chapters. I’ve been theorizing this is where breaks in the story happen that would have been different parts of the book, or set up like the division between episodes but in book form. I kind of need a shorter chapter and it’s still long enough to follow my rules as to whether or not I group chapters for review purposes. I’m just saying there may not be much to say, but hopefully enough for a full article. WIth that, read the chapter and come back to this window or monitor so we can discuss it.
Actually, I wrote those two paragraphs before I started reading. It adds some authenticity to the intro if I actually don’t know what’s coming in case someone is reading along with me. (If you are, let me know.) As it ended up, disproving my blank page theory, chapter 16 flows into 17 as 17 starts with a comment that would have come at the end of 16. So I ended up reading both chapters. So let’s go over both chapters.
Most of these people will not show up in this issue…and one of them will be a kid.
Robotech #1
WildStorm Productions (February, 2003)
“From The Stars”
PLOT: Tommy Yune
SCRIPT: Jay Faerber
ARTISTS: Long Vo, Charles Park, & Saka
LETTERER: Jenna Garcia
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Kristy Quinn
EDITOR: Ben Abernanthy
Catch more episodes of Transformers: The Basics on Chris McFeely’s YouTube channel!
You can find my reviews of the Dreamwave comics run here at the Spotlight. My thoughts on the company as a whole, as I posted them in his comments:
Dreamwave’s failure always makes me sad because what the writers were doing had me so excited, especially what James and Adam were doing on the main series. IDW never inspired that as much in me. It was fun, action packed, and they seemed to really be building up to something, one of the few times the quasi-spiritual aspects actually worked for me.
Additionally, I’ve never been a fan of Simon’s work in Transformers most of the time, but somehow what he did in Armada and Energon I really liked. (I even liked what Saracinni did in the first Armada story and I was NOT a fan of the first G1 miniseries. Something magical about that series.) As for Wildman, complain about the house style affecting his if anyone out there wants to but in the Marvel run they looked like people in costumes while in the Dreamwave stories they actually looked like robots. I also liked what they were doing with MegaMan, continuity errors aside, and while their take on TMNT was hardly in line with the Fox cartoon it was supposed to be a tie-in to, the Archie comics did the same thing with the original cartoon and still made their own decent continuity.
So if Pat Lee hadn’t screwed everyone over this would have been a great Transformers franchise addition rather than a disaster. It’s still my favorite take thus far, which makes me sad it never achieved the greatness it was headed for.
When the de-aged Spider-Man show for preschoolers is doing Marvel better than Marvel, you’re doing it wrong.
Over at The Clutter Reports today my being sick didn’t leave me time to do any cleaning so I went looking for a video just to post something and encourage decluttering…and found something called Swedish Death Cleaning. It’s not as cool as it sounds but it seems like a good method.
Hopefully I can get back to Art Soundoff this week, and it’s looking more and more that this will be the last year I do this unless others join in. So I don’t want to end it where it currently is. Additionally, we’ll be continuing the Chapter By Chapter review of TekWar, going back to classic Marvel by going through my virtual library, and whatever else happens to happen this week.
Before I go though, you may have heard that Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne for many animation fans, passed away over the weekend dealing with cancer. My condolences to his family and friends.
I hope the rest of you have a better week, folks. Stay amazing!
I happened to be looking at Pluto TV early yesterday when the Paramount Plus channel (used to preview shows on their streaming service, as they share a parent company now) was showing the first episode of Transformers: EarthSpark, which had already released on a UK YouTube channel but not available in the US. I checked to see if it was going to air on Nickelodeon, since I missed part of the beginning, and it was scheduled multiple times this weekend, including yesterday. But as I prepared to ready myself for a Pilot Review I found out that Paramount Plus’ YouTube channel had the episode up, so as long as they don’t take it down (like what happened with Voltron: Legendary Defender on the official Voltron channel) I get to bring you the review AND the episode.
EarthSpark is the latest kids Transformers toyline and animated series. The focus is on a family whose lives become entangled with the Transformers. The mother is a former soldier who fought alongside the Autobots until the war finally ended in this continuity. Megatron reforms and outside of a few outlaw Decepticons the Transformers form a new secret organization (add them to the list!) with the humans called Ghost to help the remaining Transformers adapt to living on Earth. However, her two kids, Mo and Robby Malto, find a mysterious cave that brings two new Transformers online, the first “born” on Earth. Thrash and Twitch become bonded to the kids, but an evil scientist has his own plans for the Transformers. Tonight I bring you the first episode as the kids meet their new best friends.
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
