BW’s Morning Article Link: Transformers Manga Finally Coming To US

Viz announced a bunch of new manga, but I don’t care about the rest of it. The big news for me is that among them are translated reprints of old Japanese Transformers comics! While I can find fan-made translations online I prefer a physical comic. This isn’t nearly all the Transformers comics that have been made in Japan and there are a few I probably wouldn’t be as interested in, but I would like to see them all available. At the same time I want Shout Factory to release the post-G1 anime and I’m sure collectors wouldn’t mind a few Japanese-exclusive molds, including recent ones like Transformers Go, available around here to complete their collection for cheap.

In related comments, I again beg you to tell me what I need to do to make my Patreon supportable, or even recommend a different service. I would love to review all this stuff and maybe be less of a burden on my dad. Finding a job I can do is still difficult and I really want to review this stuff. And of course see and own previously Japanese-only versions of one of my favorite franchises.

Chapter By Chapter: Transformers Armada–The Battle Begins ch. 3

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.

I know I keep harping on this after the last book but the prologue was so long I keep thinking I’m a chapter further than I am. The epilogue is about the size you’d expect, and this week we have one chapter, 9 pages (10 if you count the illustration). I’ve missed decent length chapters, and it’s in a book for seven-year-olds. Go figure.

So far we’ve seen the Mini-Cons kicked off of Cybertron as if that would stop the war (I’m betting it didn’t), and met our main human characters. Based on the chapter title for this week’s meeting of the book club I’m betting we’re meeting at least one of our Mini-Cons. How will it happen in this version? The three important characters–Alexis, Carlos, and Rad–went one way and our supporting humans–Fred and Billy–went the other so I bet we won’t see them meet the Mini-Cons yet. But I’m guessing someone will.

Chapter 3: Mini-Con Robots Revealed

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“Yesterday’s” Comic: Batman: Gotham Adventures #33

Bruce tries to create a new sport, the cowl toss.

Batman: Gotham Adventures #33

DC Comics (February, 2001)

“World Without Batman”

WRITER: Ed Brubaker

PENCILER: Brad Brader

INKER: John Lowe

COLORIST: Lee Loughridge

LETTERER: Tim Harkins

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Fran Berrios

EDITOR: Bob Schreck

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BW’s Morning Article Link: Dead, But Not Walking

While zombie-smash The Walking Dead will continue on thanks to AMC and…are they still planning to finish the game Telltale Games never got to before it shut down?…the comic has ended. Robert Kirkman gave no warning and even pretended it wasn’t because he likes surprises. And The Hollywood Reporter ruined that almost immediately last week. The article gives the reason why and shows some fake art for future cover issues created by artist Charlie Adlard.

So why am I showing art from one of Kirkman’s other comics, Super Dinosaur? Well, now he has time to go back and do more of those stories. Please bring back Super Dinosaur. It’s the Kirkman comic I actually enjoyed and there’s certainly more to the story that they have to tell. Mostly this post exists to remind you Super Dinosaur exists, and he brought missiles.

Jake & Leon #414: Lights Out Show

No Autobots were harmed in the making of this comic.

This sort of happened to us many years ago. A power transformer blew on our street took out our power for…I think longer than two day. No light show that I recall though.

In this week’s Clutter Report I look at the untranslated Speed Racer reboot manga to see if I can somehow still enjoy it.

Saturday is my 46th birthday (getting older and having less to show for it) and although I still want to continue my clutter maintenance I won’t be doing a Saturday post unless I find something you might enjoy. I’ll do a special Today’s Comic for the next Free Comic Book Day preview I’m doing a deeper review set for on Friday in the usual feature article slot since I’ve already missed one when life events got to me. I also need to renew my driver’s license this week so depending on how long I take at the DMV there may not be much of an article the next day. (I usually write my articles a day in advance.) Hopefully I’ll at least have a good Jake & Leon gag come from it. Have a good week.

Saturday Night Showcase: Masters Of The Universe

Tonight’s offering may not run on Vista and sooner operating system-friendly browsers. Every time I tried to run it on my computer it pauses during the lion roar and I get a message saying “Sorry, there was an error licensing this video.” and yet on my old Android tablet and my dad’s computer (running Windows 8) it ran just fine, at least as far as the credits. If it doesn’t work my old Reviewers Unknown colleague the Blockbuster Chick did a review of the movie before she retired, so check that out. Between this and YouTube getting rid of the current upload system for one that doesn’t run on Vista it seems Google really wants me to upgrade but won’t give me the money to do so and doesn’t care I don’t have it on my own. So I don’t know how I’m going to edit videos in the future or even upload them. A rant for another time perhaps. Let’s get to why you’re here tonight.

Speaking of things Google and YouTube do wrong, did you know they have a channel where they stream movies and TV shows legally for other companies? You didn’t? Maybe because they barely promote the thing if at all. It’s done in the style of Vudu: some movies/shows free with ads while others you have to pay for. They also have exclusive programming on YouTube Premium. If you ever wondered where that Karate Kid spinoff series Kobra Kai is, now you know. One of the movies is one that I wanted to put on Saturday Night Showcase but the rights holders dropped it from their YouTube channel in favor of this service. So with all the talk about a new Masters Of The Universe movie, I thought it would be a decent time to show you the old one.

Released in 1987 this movie is not a very good adaptation of the source material, namely the toys, or even the cartoon. The costumes are way off, Frank Langella’s Skeletor and Meg Ryan’s Evil-Lyn being the closest to other incarnations of the time. Dolph Lundgren was given a cape and a sword that looks cool but doesn’t resemble any version of the Power Sword from the time. Teela and Man-At-Arms have the wrong colors, as does Beast Man, and Teela is now a blaster-wielding badass instead of a sword or staff wielding badass. They travel to Earth to meet Courtney Cox, who takes time away from dancing with Bruce Springsteen to mourn her dead parent before she and her boyfriend stumble across a portal device that Skeletor wants…as if creating intra and interdimensional portals was some new thing on Eternia. I will at least give the movie credit for being fun, though not always in the way intended. Still, if you can run it, enjoy.

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Today’s Comic> Malika: Fire & Frost FCBD preview

Glowing eyes is a raging epidemic, but you…can help.

Malika: Fire & Frost

YouNeek Studios (2019)

CREATOR/WRITER/ART DIRECTOR: Roye Okupe

ARTIST: Sunkanmi Akinboye

COLORIST: Etubi Onucheyo

COVER/CONCEPT ART: Godwin Akpan

LETTERER: Bode Joseph

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Vomoz Communications, Inc

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