BW’s Daily Video: Can You Break Into Superman’s Fortress Of Solitude?

Kyle Hill is no longer on Nerdist’s Because Science and now runs his own show, The Facility, on his own YouTube channel. And Kyle…CLARK KENT’S DISGUISE ISN’T JUST ABOUT THE GLASSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Check the second video!) I’m getting tired of that nonsense!

As far as the Fortress goes I have never been a fan of Richard Donner’s “crystal pile” Fortress. I kind of like the Superman: The Animated Series version where he doesn’t use a key, he just dives into water too cold for anyone else where nobody knows where the entrance is, but there’s admittedly problems there. Still, it is a lot more hidden, like the classic Fortress. The key I grew up with was giant, like the whole Kyle shows in the video but also doubled as a marker for airplanes trying to find their way. (I think it points north.) Which means even when it’s not being a key it’s still helping others. That’s so very Superman…which I’ll get into in tonight’s feature article by using another video. See you for that.

Did Bendis’s New Avengers Save The Avengers?

If you read my daily old comic reviews you know my thoughts on Brian Michael Bendis’ run on The New Avengers, and I’m not really enjoying it. The plots are fine and I think he chose a good line-up but his interpretation of the characters and other issues I have with Bendis in general and in his taking over a long-running property with a long history just haven’t been sitting well with me. Of course every reviewer’s opinion is his or her own and if they tell you otherwise they’re lying or that full of themselves. It’s a sad thing really.

For example I’ve used videos by Owen of Owen Likes Comics for daily posts, filler videos, or as part of a continuing discussion on various topics. I recommend checking out his YouTube channel to see more since I don’t post everything he does. A lot of times I either outright agree with him or at least find some of the history and his perspectives interesting. In this video Owen discusses the history of the Avengers series and how Bendis brought new life to Earth’s mightiest heroes. This may be true, but that doesn’t mean I like what he did with the characters.

Continue reading →

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Spider-Man Family (partial review)

Spider-Man Family is a 100 page anthology that include an original story, reprints of Marvel Tails #1, Spider-Woman #20, Spider-Man 2099 #1, and Untold Tales Of Spider-Man #1. With that many reprints of full-length comics I’ve opted to just review them as separate articles and will stick with the exclusive story and a short added to the book. I’ll turn that list into links once the reviews go live.

Just a night out swinging with the family. I should rephrase that.

Spider-Man Family

Marvel Comics (2005)

Spider-Girl: “Old Enemies Never Die!”

WRITERS/PENCILS: Tom DeFalco & ROn Lim

INKER: Norm Rapmund

COLORIST: Rob Ro

LETTERER: Dave Sharpe

EDITOR: Molly Lazer

Petey: The Adventures Of Peter Parker Long Before He Became Spider-Man: “The Devil And Mrs. Parker”

WRITER/ARTIST: Fred Hembeck

(originally published in Untold Tales Of Spider-Man ’97)

Continue reading →

BW’s Daily Video: Eight Nobodies Who Beat Batman

Catch more WhatCulture Comics on their YouTube channel.

Chapter By Chapter> Doctor Who: The Time Travellers FINALE

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.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the new version of Doctor Who, but even before the politics and Timeless Child nonsense I didn’t really get into the show, and I stayed in up through most of Matt Smith’s run. He’s my favorite New Who Doctor. However, it doesn’t have the same charm as the original. Davies wanted to make the mundane scary (especially when it came to ruining Christmas) and Moffat focused on a fairytale atmosphere. Every producer, director, and showrunner has his own take on the Doctor and his world but it wasn’t that specific before. I also think the serial format made the show unique compared to the seasonal arc with one two-part episode format of the new show and maybe the lower budget forced them to take on an imagination level that modern computer effects don’t have to worry about. I’m not saying classic Who is better, just that I kind of prefer it. That’s why I liked that early on this book felt more like classic Who, but that slowly changed as the book went on.

I made a now corrected mistake in last night’s update. The previous chapter was the second to last chapter. Now we’re in the final chapter and the three-page epilogue. That’s means a full review will come up this Sunday over at The Clutter Reports (barring life incidents) but before we can get there we need to find the TARDIS and maybe answer some of the lingering questions of this book. Will that happen? Let’s read and find out.

Continue reading →

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Justice League Unlimited #37

Go home, Spectre. You’re drunk!

Justice League Unlimited #37

DC Comics (November, 2007)

“Hard Spirits”

WRITER: Matt Wayne

PENCILER: Min S. Ku

INKER: Jeff Albrecht

COLORING: Heroic Age

LETTERER: Mike Sellers

EDITOR: Rachel Gluckstern

Continue reading →

BW’s Daily Article Link: Did M*A*S*H Play The Long Game?

Gary Burghoff as Corporal Radar O’Reilly

On the first episode of M*A*S*H, the series based on the movie that loosely adapted the novel, a joke was made that was revisited on the final RECORDED episode, according to this article. While MeTV’s article on this says the joke was intentionally playing the long game it’s also possible that they remember the gag and revisited it or the line in the final scene shot for the show (the final season wasn’t recorded in order so “Goodbye, Farewell, And Amen” was the last aired episode but the last scene shot was from “As Time Goes By”, the previous airing episode) was a coincidence. Unless they always planned for the subject to air in their final season (and as I’ve written before the tone kind of changed partway through the series) I’m betting it’s either luck or remembering an old gag.