Catch more from Disparu on YouTube
Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter (or possibly multiple chapters for this one) of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
Our previous chapter pairing featured a lot of running from Russians.
We have eight chapters left to go. If the pairings continue to be necessary we could finish this book before Halloween. If not then certainly before Thanksgiving. Four chapters and three chapters, so we have another pairing. I can’t say I’m going to miss this book, but I can also say it’s been an improvement over the first one.
As intro padding has run dry, let’s jump into the book. Hopefully this doesn’t look too bad on the homepage.
Tell others about the Spotlight:
For those of you who missed Sunday’s update, I found the reading order I wanted, release dates rather than someone’s prefered timeline reading order. I decided not to stop this comic on a crossover and give it one more shot.
“This isn’t the elevator!”
The Solution #5
Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (January, 1994)
“It’s A Hard World”
WRITER: James Hudnall
PENCILER: Alan Jacobson
INKER: Larry Welch
COLORING: Moose Baumann (guides) & Foodhammer!
LETTERER: Dave Lanphear
EDITOR: Hank Kanalz
Tell others about the Spotlight:
Catch more from The Confused Adipose on YouTube
And here’s the Film Is Fabulous website’s Trust page
I’ll be keeping an eye out for developments. Right now we don’t have a list, so some of these could be already found episodes or mislabels. Let’s not celebrate until we hear more, but it does offer hope for something being found.
Tell others about the Spotlight:
Don’t worry. The honey pot is empty.
Hey, I have my priorities.
For example, in this week’s Clutter Report my friends were the priority, and I still found time to do some of my digital declutter. I’m hoping to get this and if I’m lucky one more goal project done before the giant ball comes down in Times Square.
This week brings us more double chapter reviews of Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mirror Image and more of the CBS Saturday morning Transformers we never got. As for the rest of the week? With a doctor’s appointment for both me and my dad this week (more priorities), and probably getting more tests done to see what I’m dying from this season, I’ll be glad to make all three posts every day. If I miss something, I have no choice. Hopefully I can finally build the filler buffer once I can stop shopping and seeing doctors for awhile, but regular content is also a priority. That’s the theme for this week.
Also, good news for me, but it might alter Malibu Monday going forward in “Yesterday’s” Comic. You know how I keep complaining about the suggested reading order list I’ve been using? I’ve been really annoyed that it’s keeping me from reading titles with too much waiting time in favor of some alleged chronology-approved reading order I can’t even confirm matters outside of crossovers. It’s been getting on my nerves. Well, I tried again to find a release order list instead, and finally found the Grand Comics Database can give you the proper release order of an imprint instead of reading order. The Ultraverse imprint can be found independent of the other Malibu imprints and titles under their brand, so now I can see when they were released, not just what some person thinks you should read them in.
I’m going to use this to start getting caught up on issues like I’ve been doing with the Friday Golden Age comics, reading comics release in a given month. The week of release might be off as a result but at least I’ll get to read certain comics again. We’ll be playing catch-up the next bunch of weeks until I’m caught up, and will be following their release from here on out. This makes me happy. I’ll try to adjust for crossovers and stuff to get them in the right order, but otherwise I get to read Prime again soon! As for the flipbooks, I’ll read one side one week and the other the following week, in keeping with how I’ve been doing it. Since I’m not buying them, who cares? So maybe I’ll get to actually enjoy THIS reading order!
Have a great week, everyone!
Tell others about the Spotlight:
Okay, we’re putting my planned Showcase on hold again, but this time it’s because I get to show you Kamen Rider ZEZTZ!
I previously reviewed the pilot episode when it was simulcast on the TokuSHOUTsu YouTube channel, but that was an unsaved livestream. Now they’ve started putting the episodes up properly like they’re doing for other Kamen Rider shows they have permission to. I don’t know for how long, but as of this writing the first four episodes, the ones that have already streamed in the US, are available to watch. I’m only going to drop the first episode. While the revelations all start with the next episode, the usual two-ep arcs start with episodes 2 and 3. Episode 4, which aired last week, is also there, and episode 5 will stream on Saturday at 7:30 Pacific Time per usual. Or so I imagine. Then again, by the time some of you read this more episodes will be out or they took it down or something. It’s the internet. As for the plot, I’m going to copy/paste from my review:
He is the invincible agent Code Seven, who rescues the famed Japanese idol Nem with rubber bullets (because it’s a kids show in Japan), cool moves, and a cowlick that doesn’t want to go away. He’s amazing…in his dreams. When he wakes up, Baku Yorozu is a loser. Not by choice. He tries to help people all the time, but for whatever reason he keeps getting hurt when he tries, to the dismay of his sister, Minami. This latest attempt, stopping a kidnapping at the job center he’s hoping will find him work, leads to him getting hit by a car…without a driver, and ending up in the hospital. In the hospital, Baku is attacked by a monster formed from a gun…the gun nightmare!
Something strange is happening in this city, not that the police’s paranormal division veteran detective Kenta Mishima can convince the new girl, Rina Onuki. Kenta calls them “nightmares”, monsters formed from dreams with the goal of killing those dreams in the real world by destroying them in his sleeping dreams. Unfortunately for the bad guys, Baku is really good at lucid dreaming, and is given a device by his spy boss in the dream, Zero, gives him a device that transforms Seven/Baku into Kamen Rider Zetez, with the mission to stop the nightmare. What does this all have to do with Nem, and the mysterious Nox that sent the car and the monster after Baku in the first place?
Slight error on my part. The nightmares fulfill the dreams by making them affect the real world, and then take over the host. We learn that in the second episode. Also Zero isn’t just his boss but his motorcycle. There’s a joke there I’m not going to try to figure out. Enjoy the first episode!
Tell others about the Spotlight:
I remember when you had to have at least 16 episodes a season for a kids show. Apparently adult shows got more per season, but streaming has given us seasons with episode counts in single digits and years between seasons. That’s not to a show’s benefit, as showrunner Brendon Braga, whatever you think of his takes on Star Trek, told a Voyager panel during a gathering of Trekkies in Las Vegas recently. It’s part of the reason why fans can’t connect with any recent show very well, because there isn’t enough time to connect to the characters.
BW Media Spotlight 