Jake & Leon #484: Challenged Art

It’s not like we follow every boring moment in other people’s lives.

The gas is mostly gone, I’m feeling better, and as I mentioned in the Clutter Report update I lost some weight. So it’s time to return to normal BW operations. Thank you for waiting.

I finally have both of the remaining Avengers movies I need to see on my Finally Watched list so if I can do at least one of those this week I’ll be happy. However I’ll settle for getting back to the Chapter By Chapter review of BattleTech: I Am Jade Falcon and the comic reviews. I’m running out of DC multiverse related material but I’m also running out of Marvel multiverse material. We’ll see who runs out first. I do have a commentary on typecasting I want to get out this week. Otherwise I don’t know what’s coming but hopefully you’ll find it interesting. Have a good week, folks!

Saturday Night Showcase: Kamen Rider Ryuki

Back before Saturday Night Showcase had a logo I brought you Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, the second attempt to give the Kamen Rider franchise the Power Rangers treatment, though this one wasn’t produced by Saban Entertainment. It also didn’t have the restrictions FOX forced on Saban when the parent groups went nuts about kids playing Power Rangers, as if kids never got hurt playing good guy/bad guy when they were kids. The show ended up being more action-based with a deeper plot, a running storyline, and just overall was much better. Too bad 4Kids and CW For Kids didn’t do a good job airing it, the final two episodes only airing online and still doesn’t have a full series home video release as far as I know, at least in the US.

However, tonight’s Showcase comes from the official Toei YouTube channel for their tokusatsu library and features the show Dragon Knight‘s action footage came from, Kamen Rider Ryuki. The two stories are almost completely different. There’s still a mirror world where monsters suck people into their reflective surfaces, only now we know it’s to feed. There is still a war between the mirror Kamen Riders, who make contracts with certain monsters, only it has nothing to do with mirror universe counterparts or an alien invasion. Our hero is Shinji Kido, intern for an online news site, who is dragged into the war when he finds a mysterious card deck in the home of a missing man, part of the site’s investigation into a strange rash of missing people. Only he has his reflective surfaces all covered. Shinji and his US counter part Kit Taylor couldn’t be more different but both are in over their heads. At least Kit wasn’t the only one looking to protect the monsters’ victims. Tonight I bring you the first two episodes of Ryuki from the Toei Tokusatsu World YouTube channel so we get to see Shinji get his colors. (In hindsight I probably should have done the same for Dragon Knight but I was still relatively new to this back then.

Turn on the closed captions to get the subtitles if you don’t understand Japanese and enjoy.

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BW Health Update

A little lower, and you have how I felt this week.

I’m crossposting this between BW Media Spotlight and The Clutter Reports to save time. The former, being usually a daily site, already has part of this information but I’ve been sick this week. Given my current improving state I’m thinking the problem was just way too much gas, causing constipation early in the week and even throwing up one night–four times. Currently the gas is still present but a lot lighter. I’m not inflating in pain due to the pressure, no vomiting since (sorry if you’re reading this while eating) and the gurgling noises aren’t nearly as bad. Sleeping should be more comfortable but I still have to get the rest of this out.

On the BW side I’m going to be taking a few more days off. Hopefully I’ll return later in the week, but no daily comic reviews and I’m not sure what form anything else will take. I know that leaves Robotech Masters and Doctor Who: The Forgotten on their cliffhangers, as well as the Chapter By Chapter book review of BattleTech: I Am Jade Falcon but I’d rather take time and give you by best work rather that keep up the quantity and phone it in if I don’t have to. At the latest based on current recovery I should be back for Saturday Night Showcase. I’ve got more tokusatsu but we’ll take a short Ultraman break for Kamen Rider.

On the Clutter side, obviously this all means I didn’t do a clearing project this week, unless you count the gas cluttering my internal mechanisms. I did fall behind with the emails because I wasn’t up to being on the computer (also pushed back on the YouTube catch-up just as I was getting back to present–again) so if I don’t get a physical clutter project done I’ll work on that. At least it will be something, but I know that’s not what helps motivate others…unless your email box is just as backed up by years of emails…so hopefully I can do something more fulfilling.

At any rate I hope you’re all doing well between the two readerships (or if you read both sites, thank you) and I hope to be back in the game soon. Have a good week, folks!

BW On Sick Leave

You may have noticed I suddenly stopped posting. Well, Monday’s posts were written on Sunday, as I’ve been trying to schedule better. Well, come Monday, where Tuesday’s posts would be written, I got sick. Not from the 2020 plague, don’t worry. It’s just a little trouble with my stomach, but I’ve been tired and even now I’m not up to writing a full set of articles. So I’m taking the rest of the week off with the hopes I’ll be able to do something for The Clutter Reports or Jake & Leon but I make no promises on either. I just need to rest and be ready to come back to action at least by Monday. Or Sunday, or however that works. Have a good week, everyone!

BW’s Daily Video: Defending Superman’s American Way

Catch more Comics, By Perch on his YouTube channel.

No, I’m not planning to make the whole week commentaries. It’s just what I came across the past two days.

Chapter By Chapter> BattleTech: I Am Jade Falcon chapters 18-20

Chapter By Chapter features me reading one chapter 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.

Although as you can see from the article title, we’re reviewing three chapters like we did last week. To use a different TV analogy, it’s like the chapter is stopping at each commercial break instead of a full-length chapter. To me a chapter should feel like a full experience on its own, something you read between life events to relax and if you have more time (and the story is that good) you read more. Basically a chapter ending is a good stopping point if you need to be doing something else like getting something to eat, returning to work, or putting out that grease fire in the kitchen. No, wait, maybe these chapters are short enough for that but maybe put the book down and grab the baking soda or fire extinguisher. Not water, that just spreads the fire…WHY ARE YOU READING THIS WHEN YOUR KITCHEN IS ON FIRE!

Fire out? Good. Now until you hear back from the insurance agent let’s go see on Joanna is handling her new assignment on planet Dogg and her secret other assignment. Last time we met at least one jerk whose best quality is “he’s not Ravill Pryde”. How long before she risks her secret mission and punches this guy in the face?

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“Yesterday’s” Comic> Super Friends #41 (vol. 6)

The low-budget remake of the Challenge Of The Super Friends intro doesn’t measure up.

Super Friends volume 6 #41

(I think at this point they just upped the volume number every year.)

DC Comics (February, 1981)

COLORIST: Jerry Serpe

EDITOR: Julius Schwartz

Super Friends: “The Toyman’s Tricky Thefts”

WRITER: Bob Rozakis

PENCILER: Ramona Fradon

INKER: Vince Colletta

LETTERER: Milt Snapinn

The Seraph: Dry Earth…Stolen Waters”

WRITER/ARTIST: Bob Oksner

LETTERER: John Costanza

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