March 12, 2019

BW’s Morning Article Link: Gender-Swapped Mar-Vell

I don’t have a picture of the Mar-Vell in question.

I’ve been hearing that gender politics play a part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of  Captain Marvel that wasn’t present in Wonder Woman, and given their origins that’s kind of odd. What I haven’t been hearing (and I’ve been avoiding reviews with spoilers) is that Mar-Vell, the original Marvel Comics Universe version of Captain Marvel, is now being played by a woman when he was a man in the comics. The MCU is usually pretty good at getting those details right. Not perfect (just ask the Ancient One and the Mandarin about that), but it shows how little the makers of this movie seems to care about the source material, which is ignoring one of the many strengths the MCU has had over DC’s various live-action interpretations lately. Concept over characters strikes again.

Posted by on March 12, 2019 in Marvel Spotlight, Movie Spotlight and tagged , , , .

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March 11, 2019

Chapter By Chapter: Tom Clancy’s Op-Center chapters 50-52

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.

Here we go again. Three chapters this week, and I wish that meant we were speeding things along but given how short the chapters are we’re not quite 2/3rds into this book. There are eighty-eight chapters and a lot of is padding, I think to introduce the series and main/recurring characters more than the needs of the story. All of the interesting stuff is happening in Korea, and all the annoying stuff involve our main characters. Most of them are unlikable, seeking the boss’s job, seeking the boss’s body, running off when they should be here (what happened to Mike Rodgers and the team he forced a soldier off of so he could be there anyway?), or just being rude if they aren’t making matters worse.

Meanwhile, our Korean-based heroes are trying to prove the bombing was a ruse to restart the Korean War and being interesting. A man is dealing with the grief of losing his wife hours ago and is still doing more good than the guys who haven’t lost anything, save the man whose son is in the hospital. In other words the only way to be good at anything is to have a loved one dead or dying in this book. Let’s get to the chapter list for this week.

  • Chapter 50: Wednesday, 1:20 AM, Yanguu Village: 5 pages
  • Chapter 51: Wednesday, 11:30 AM, Op-Center: 5 pages
  • Chapter 52: Wednesday, 1:45 AM, The DMZ: 5 pages

Well, thus far I can’t fault it. One scene with Hwan trying to find the real bombers, a stop at Op-Center, and a check-in with Donald trying to stop a war. All three major areas accounted for. Will it be any good though?

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Posted by on March 11, 2019 in Tom Clancy's Op-Center and tagged , , , , .

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March 11, 2019

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Batman: Gotham Adventures #26

Batman is training his Robins younger and younger.

Batman: Gotham Adventures #26

DC Comics (July, 2000)

“In Arms”

WRITER: Scott Peterson

PENCILER: Tim Levins

INKER: Terry Beatty

COLORIST: Lee Loughridge

LETTERER: Tim Harkins

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Frank Berrios

EDITOR: Bob Schreck

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Posted by on March 11, 2019 in Animation Spotlight, DC Spotlight, Television Spotlight and tagged , , , , .

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March 11, 2019

BW’s Morning Article Link: FX Network–The Early Years

The TV show wishes their Bat-Cape could pull this off.

Before the FX Network was doing shows about corrupt police officers and plastic surgeons they broadcast out of a New York apartment (or pretended to) showing retro shows and doing news from their office. The Retroist’s Allison Venezio found a video collecting promos and bumpers from that lost period. You may even recognize some of the MTV Veejay style revolving break hosts that show up if you watch long enough. Some of these shows haven’t been on TV in years, even in reruns. Maybe you’ll recognize some of those, too.

(Their shows included this version of Batman and Green Hornet, so the picture fits.)

Posted by on March 11, 2019 in Television Spotlight and tagged .

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March 10, 2019

Jake & Leon #399: Roaring Back

I’m prepared to be surprised, but I’m also ready to be as disappointed as I’m expecting.

There are actually two wikis set up for Thundercats Roar that I found. One appears to be ready to actually collect the events and characters of the show, like any other fan wiki when the show debuts some time this Spring. The other one though seems prepared to immediately hate the show and rake it over the coals, even being rather mean to the creator. Look, I’m not looking forward to this piece of mockstalgia either but there’s no reason to personally attack the guy because he has a lame vision or his silly “manbun”. Be mad at him? Yes. Personally attack him? A bit harsh. (Although admittedly there were a few jokes I did laugh at.)

In this week’s Clutter Report I did the dishes again. That means I helped my dad with more of his kitchen clean-out. I wash the dishes almost every time. At least I’m doing something around here of worth.

For this week’s update I created a v-log, to also inform my viewers the progress of my next video review, with an extra hint as to what’s coming, plus other things I plan to do on the channel. There’s also info for you readers.

As stated in the video, this week the DCAU moves to Monday since I’m all caught up on my DC comic reviews. Saturdays will now be the home of comics in my comiXology library–and we’re starting with a Batman comic that I’m not sure is from the main DCU but it’s not from the DCAU. It just kind of worked out that way.

Posted by on March 10, 2019 in Animation Spotlight, Jake & Leon, Television Spotlight and tagged , , , , .

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March 9, 2019

Saturday Night Showcase: Bionic Six

The Six Million Dollar Man was a TV series loosely based on the Cyborg novel series. It introduced the world to the concept of bionics, a type of prosthetic that brought with it high-tech superhuman abilities. It was followed up by The Bionic Woman, and would also add a bionic dog. A series of made-for-TV movies added more people to the bionic world, including a new form of bionics that was more about augmenting the natural body rather than the usual prosthetic limbs, eyes, and ears. However tonight I want to look at a different form of bionics, as featured in Bionic Six, a 1980s cartoon not set in that continuity but produced by the same company, now known as NBCUniversal. While the main continuity was more of a secret agent series with the occasional sci-fi element, including aliens and robots, the cartoon was a full sci-fi superhero series set in the near future. It also has aliens and robots, but the latter shows up more often.

Bionic Six follows the Bennett family–former pilot Jack, his wife Helen, their natural-born children Eric and Meg, and their adopted sons JD and Bunji. (I’ll think you’ll be able to tell which is which.) Only Helen knew that her husband was also the superhero Bionic-1. It’s not until episode 10, nine episodes after we’ve seen Mother-1, Sport-1, Rock-1, IQ (oddly no “1” in the name), and Karate-1 have joined him, that we finally learn how they became the Bionic Six, and the debut of their enemies led by Dr. Scarab, the evil brother of the Six’s creator, Dr. Sharpe. I don’t remember if Bionic-1’s origin was ever given.

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Posted by on March 9, 2019 in Animation Spotlight, Saturday Night Showcase, Television Spotlight and tagged , , , , .

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March 9, 2019

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Batman Beyond vol 2 #9 (DCAU)

This is an odd reminder to set your clocks ahead tonight.

Batman Beyond volume 2 #9

DC Comics (July, 2000)

“The Last Of Her Kind”

WRITERS: Hilary J. Bader & Rich Fogel

PENCILER: Craig Rosseau

INKER: Rob Leigh

COLORIST: Lee Loughridge

LETTERER: Tim Harkins

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Frank Berrios

EDITOR: Joseph Illidge

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Posted by on March 9, 2019 in Animation Spotlight, DC Spotlight, Television Spotlight, Yesterday's Comics and tagged , , , , , .

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