“Just another few days and we’ll have him!”
Star Trek #12
DC Comics (March, 1985)
“New Frontiers” part 4: “The Tantalus Trap”
WRITER: Mike W. Barr
PENCILER: Tom Sutton
INKER: Ricardo Villagran
COLORIST: Michele Wolfman
LETTERER: John Costanza
MANAGING EDITOR: Tom Condon
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Robert Greenberger
EDITORS: Marv Wolfman & Mike W. Barr
Tom King is a robot?
DC may be overdoing the Batman but he is popular enough that DC thinks they’re doing the right thing. Remember that Morning Video where someone allegedly used AI to create a Batman script? Midnight’s Edge did a dramatic reading but someone else went and made a whole comic. And yes, Alfred still has to give birth to Robin. It is his job after all.
This is still my favorite Batman scene. Yes, I do like the character, why do you ask?
Batman is not my favorite DC superhero (that’s Superman followed by Firestorm) but he is #3. I grew up with Batman as sure as I did Superman and have enjoyed the exploits of he and his crew. However, DC specifically and Warner Brothers in general can’t seem to stop themselves from putting out as much Bat-material as possible. Most of the direct-to-video movies are Batman stories. Their most recent movies have either starred or cameoed as much Batman as they could. And if they couldn’t BE about Batman then the character would be reworked to feel like Batman, like they’ve done with Superman recently. This isn’t just in the movies as the comics themselves are very Bat heavy or at least Bat inspired. Look what they did to Barry Allen for example. A hero inspired by another hero is now one dead parent and one parent framed to make him darker, and then they ruined poor Wally when Rebirth brought the original Wally West back.
Recently Tony Isabella called out DC for their overuse of Batman. Now this could just be because he’s pissed off that Batman is leading a team with Black Lightning in it rather than Black Lightning leading the Outsiders without him (he’s said as much so that’s not total speculation) but he may actually be right about that. Ewan Paterson and Zoë Miskelly from What Culture examined Isabella’s comments and noted that the DC universe may be overloading on Dark Knight goodness.
“Well, I wanted a hot time tonight.”
Iron Man volume 3 #49
Marvel Comics (February, 2002)
“‘Nuff Said” didn’t just steal one of Stan Lee’s expressions, it was a gimmick created by then publisher Bill Jemas and Editor In Chief Joe Quesada that for a change made for interesting storytelling. (You know what they say about broken clocks.) The challenge was to do an entire story without dialog. Apparently this issue not only decided not to have a title it didn’t have any credit either. I had to go to the Grand Comic Database to find them.
WRITER: Frank Tieri (his last issue, and he’s only credited on the cover and in the sample script pages at the back of the book)
PENCILER: Chris Batista
INKER: Rich Perotta
COLORING: Edgar Tadeo; Avalon Studios (either Tadeo worked for Avalon or they did the separations)
LETTERER: Randy Gentile; Sharpefont (I’m assuming Gentile worked for Sharpefont but the only lettering he had to do if that were computer readouts unless he helped the art team with some of the in-world lettering. There aren’t even sound effects in this comic and as mentioned no credits.)
ASSISTANT EDITORS: Jeff Youngquist & Marc Sumerak
EDITOR: Tom Brevoort
So he will be able to talk in this series. Jon Faverau talked about wanting to explore the “darker side” (I’m not sure if the pun is intentional) of the Star Wars Universe. I’m not saying there isn’t story potential there or that I wouldn’t want to at least give the first episode a watch to see if I like it (I can’t afford Disney+ anymore than I can Hulu, Netflix, or any of the other subscription-based services out there) but I kind of come to Star Wars for the light action and fun of it, which seems to be a dying art in every franchise I love that isn’t still making kids-targeted stories.
Quick programming note: The comic review will be late today. I was super busy with more important stuff yesterday and didn’t get to it like I usually do.
Remember, the book is in public domain. Download or read the ebook online legally and for free at Project Gutenberg, Google Books or the Internet Archive among other sites, or check out the audiobook from LibriVox. You can also use a print copy. In either case my copy may not match up with yours chapter-wise. Follow along with the very-long subtitle. For this chapter:
When I first began this book I did warn you that my copy and how it’s laid out may differ from the version you have or the various public domain links in the intro. That’s very much the case here. Calling this “part four” is not completely accurate. I believe my copy is missing a part or two, and because I’m using a two volume set distributed in pocket-sized books for New York students in the 1940s what I have is actually volume 2 part 1 chapter 1. However, for the sake of easier to follow titling I’m going to continue the part numbering properly so while for me this is Volume 2 part 1 for this article series we are at…
It is told how Robin Hood met a sorrowful knight and brought him to Sherwood. Also how the Bishop of Hereford was more generous that he desired to be. Likewise telling how Sir Richard of The Len paid his bets in due season, both to the Prior Of Emmet and to Robin Hood.
This one is only two chapters long, at least in my collection. So I’ve only one more chapter to go. For those who missed our previous installment, Robin came upon a knight named Sir Richard whose son accidentally killed a man and the man’s friends decided to make things worse. Richard had to put himself in debt to get his son free and now the boy is fighting in the Crusades, but Richard is worried about leaving his wife with nothing if he has to join him. While Robin’s method of getting him the money is up for debate, Sir Richard can now pay the debt, which is where our story resumes.
Although you’d think a place run by monks and nuns would be a bit more forgiving, but given Sir Richard’s insistence on settling debts it could just be on him. That or I have the wrong definition of “priory”.
I don’t think that new diet plan worked so well.
Justice League Adventures #7
DC Comics (July, 2002)
“Flash Fax”
WRITER: Len Kaminski
PENCILER: Joe Staton
INKER: Rick Burchett
COLORIST: John Kalisz
SEPARATIONS: Heroic Age
LETTERER: Kurt Hathaway
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Steve Wacker
EDITOR: Dan Raspler
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
