So you’re trying to sell this issue with surprise reveal from last issue, and a boring shot as well?
Spider-Man: The Manga #16
Marvel Comics (August, 1998)
WRITER/ARTIST: Ryoichi Ikegami
TRANSLATION: Mutsumi Masuda
RETOUCHING/PRODUCTION: Dan Nakrosis & Rob Kuzmiak
COVER DESIGN: Jeffrey Huang
EDITOR: Glenn Greenberg
image source: Wikipedia, with color modification to match the official look
Japanese Role-Playing Game (or “JRPG” for short) fans are niche but that doesn’t mean their small. Nintendo Of America forgot that when they seemed almost hostile about releasing Xenoblade games and a few others, This link takes you to your choice of video or article (it’s on the same page) by Nick Gipson, aka Enigma (a fellow former Reviewers Unknown contributor because I got to hang with some cool kids once) of Unboxed going over the history of the fan group Operation Rainfall, their quest to get some desired JRPGs localized, and the small part Enigma himself played in it.
In the last chapter of Robotech, Dana was coerced into getting the access code to the Homeward Bound‘s fold system but Colonel Wolff seemed to be in on the plan. Now she has a chance to get the surviving refugees home. And with only a few chapters left expect that to happen rather soon.
Yep, we’re getting near the end of the book. At this stage my opinion is kind of mixed. While it makes sense that things are happening the way they are it’s not all that exciting for me personally. Add in what they did to Louie by having him manipulate Dana, the odd romantic choices, and characters I just want to shove into foldspace without mecha and it’s one of those stories that is good but not for me. Still, I don’t hate it and I’m looking forward to seeing how it all ends in a few weeks. First, let’s see what happens this week.
“Someone get me a really big pin!”
Robotech: The New Generation #25
FINAL ISSUE
Comico The Comic Company (July, 1998)
“Symphony Of Light”
ADAPTATION: Markālan Joplan
PENCILER: Thomas A. Tenney
INKER: Rich Rankin
COLORIST: Kurt Mausert
LETTERER: Bob Pinaha
EDITOR: Maggie Brenner
I didn’t get this week’s Jake & Leon done in time. I don’t have much left to do and if I didn’t have trouble sleeping last night it might have been done. When so much entertainment news is on personal drama rather than dumb story ideas I’m kind of limited and by the time I came up with a fun gag time had slipped away. So next week it should be done…in time to start working on a brand new Captain PSA. That’s a harder comic to get inspired for seeing as the concept is “public service comics in a superhero world”, but I finally figured one out. That should take the next week or two to have up depending on life. So this week you just get the update.
We have the last issue of Robotech: The New Generation this week. That’s not it for Robotech reviews however. In addition to continuing the Chapter By Chapter review of Robotech: Before The Invid Storm there are Robotech comics set after the events of the show to go over plus a Robotech comic I bet most of you haven’t heard of that I want to do a Scanning My Collection article on because of how different it is. I’ve had issue two for quite a long time now but I finally got the back issue for #1 so I’m looking forward to reading it. That hopefully will also be up in a week or two. We’re not done with Robotech Mondays just yet.
UPDATE: Okay, so I went over my Robotech comics looking to see what’s next in my review schedule. There’s a miniseries that I need to wait until I finish the novel for, and you’ll see why when we get there. However, I have two trades, one of which is a prelude to the Shadow Chronicles movie and the other sets up two of the comics taking place after this story in the Academy Comics run made well before this. Throw in the other Robotech story I teased (the “different one”) I have decided, after this post goes live so apologies to those of you who already saw this before the update, to do an almost complete Scanning My Collection Robotech-a-thon. Almost because of course Monday is the Before The Invid Storm chapter review and with all three of the trades to discuss we’re coming up one short, so we’ll see if I can fill that spot or not. If not then I’ll…think of something. Anyway, back to the original post.
As for what else I’m not sure right now. We have more G.I. Joe content coming in preparation for the 80s movie finally reaching theaters. That’s in three weeks so Saturday Night Showcase should be interesting and I’ll also get into why I’m doing this if I’m more into Transformers than their next door neighbors. Beyond that we’ll see what I’m inspired by and what gets finished by the end of the week. Have a good week, everyone!
The celebration of G.I. Joe: The Movie finally hitting theaters continues as we remember what led up to it. I’m not a huge Joe fan, though I will go into why I’m doing this at some point for the movie hits, so this is as much a refresher for me as it is some of you.
The third miniseries is actually the beginning of the actual G.I. Joe television series. “The Pyramid Of Darkness” contains the episodes “The Further Adventures Of G.I. Joe“, “Rendezvous In The City Of The Dead“, “Three Cubes To Darkness“, “Chaos In The Sea Of Lost Souls“, and “Knotting Cobra’s Coils“. However, I’m posting the movie-style edit, so while you’ll still see the episode titles you won’t have to sit through the intro and credits five times. Cobra’s new plan are a set of cubes that create a pyramid over half the planet. Anything electrical inside the pyramid is rendered useless. This requires Cobra to take over the Joe’s satellite space station with…an army of cute fuzzy creatures? It makes more sense when you see it.
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: The Problem With Headcanon
Note: There is swearing.
Catch more of Just Some Guy on YouTube
Before anyone in my comments go on about his name for the LGBT+ community, he has mentioned being gay or bisexual himself in previous videos. The problem is one group of activists trying to take complete control of the theme. I’m not gay. However, I am shy, socially awkward, overly imaginative, carry a short fuse, and nobody I know thinks about or discusses stories the way I do, which was another reason for starting this site. I know what it’s like be on the outside even in my own house (where I’m inside), and while I haven’t seen Luca (though it is on the Finally Watched list) these people are basically telling me that I can’t see my life in this literal fish out of water story because it’s about their life story. From what I can tell it’s a general experience of being the outsider learning about life. Do I not get to see elements of my experience in these characters? That’s what the author JSG is reading from is saying.
That’s also my problem with the extreme arm of the fanshipping community. Gay or straight, they will force their romance of choice onto characters and demand it be official even if that isn’t what the creators are going for. What’s worse is when the relationship is toxic. I’m looking at you Rey/Kylo Ren shippers, and not even the ones who were so into their ship that they insisted the ACTORS needed to be together despite Adam Driver having a wife and child. Do you know what acting is? Watch another Adam Driver or Daisy Ridley movie and tell me (looks up IMDB and picks a random character) Flip Zimmerman should be with (does it again) Hannah Kennedy.
This is why I refer to this not as “death of the author” but “murder of the author”. It’s one thing to not get from a work what the author intended. It’s a different thing to insist you’re right, the author is wrong, and nobody else gets to connect to this story or these characters, or that they aren’t what the author says because you need a one-to-one comparison rather than parallel experiences. Everybody is different and while some stories speak to a specific experience (although those can also inspire parallel experiences…which you would think would be a good thing if you’re looking for sympathy for your cause and experiences) others are more open so we can see our life through theirs and thus better connect to the character even if our specific experiences aren’t there. (I’ve never been a fish person. No judgement if you are.) It’s about accepting others who are different, no matter what that difference is unless it involves mass murder as a hobby or something, and about accepting yourself and what sets you apart from other people as well as where we’re all the same. I know that last part is unlikely in the compartmentalizing labeling going on in today’s sociopolitical climate but “made for you” doesn’t have to be exactly you. That would be boring.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on June 6, 2022 in Uncategorized and tagged commentary, Just Some Guy.
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