George Pérez is one of the best artist in comics. He was able to do huge, distinct crowd scenes in the days before computer software offered layers. He was one of the co-creators of the definitive Teen Titans memberships along with long time storytelling partner Marv Wolfman. The man is a legend in comics. So hearing that he’s retiring from comics due to health reasons is a sad time for the comics industry.
A Multichannel Network (MCN) is supposed to benefit creators by helping with YouTube’s messed up Content ID system, one that doesn’t benefit reviews and video essay creators as well as “let’s players”, as well as making sure other channels aren’t uploading your videos to a different channel like they do old and even recent TV shows. However, the MCN only works when the people behind it do their job correctly. Defy Media was one of those MCNs until it recently shut down.
However, this isn’t the full story. Defy Media’s quick shutdown caused a lot of trouble for YouTubers using their services, because MCNs do not operate the way you’d expect, and this led to, intentionally or otherwise, Defy stealing from their now networkless membership. MatPat of the Game and Film Theorists put a video up on the Game Theory channel talking about how Defy basically screwed them over at a very bad point in their lives to do so, just after Matthew Patrick and his wife had a newborn son. In this video he discusses how multichannel networks operate, the flaws in the business model, especially for creators under them, and how this let to $1.7 million being taken collectively from the channels that were part of Defy Media’s network both big like the Theorists and small. If you’re thinking about using an MCN to help fight Content ID and preserve your own content, you may want to see this cautionary tale so you go in with the facts and join an actually helpful network.
“I wonder if Superman ever has days like this.”
Transformers Animated: The Arrival #2
IDW Publishing (September, 2008)
WRITER: Marty Isenberg
SELECTED COVER ART: Irineo Maramba
SELECTED COVER COLORIST: Kersti Myrberg
LETTERER: Chris Mowry
EDITOR: Denton J. Tipton
“Attention Surplus Disorder”
PENCILER: Dario Brizuela
INKER: Leandro Corral
COLORIST: Liam Shalloo
“Whatever Happened To Whatisname?”
ARTIST: Marcelo Matere
Tyler Perry mixes it up with the media on the red carpet at the 82nd Academy Awards. [image source: Wikipedia]
If “The Cage” had been a successful pilot.
Star Trek: Early Voyages #1
Marvel/Paramount Comics (February, 1997)
“Flesh Of My Flesh”
WRITERS: Dan Abnett & Ian Edginton
PENCILER: Patrick Zircher
INKER: Greg Adams
COLORIST: Marie Javins
LETTERER: Janice Chiang
EDITOR: Bobbie Chase
“You’ve got the wrong Rogers.” “Blame Tronix’s media library.”
Mike Rogers left big comics for indies because the big publishers were focusing on the speculator market in the 1990s. We all know how that turned out. In this article he gives advice on how indie creators can widen their market. While I think he’s a little too down on digital comics (I love my print comics too, but the point is to get it out there for people to read) there is some good advice in there.
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
BW Versus Variety: Defending Video Game Nostalgia
Video games are harder to review because they take longer to go through than other media and not all of them have more than a base story to explain the goals, even today when so many story-based video games come out. I can’t really devote the time I need to really assess those stories (this being a story review and commentary site), and I don’t have the money to get all the games I’d want to play even if I had time. I have games here I haven’t finished whether they have a story or not.
While I’ve never been a “hardcore” gamer I do enjoy playing video games. I grew up with video games. Video games came into existence during my youth. I was a gamer before most of you internet dwellers both in the arcade and at home…mostly because a lot of you weren’t born yet. Sure I enjoy playing newer games when I have the chance, but those older games, that only needed a brief amount of time in comparison to even the storyless games of today, still hold play value beyond the nostalgia, and modern games are also formed from that nostalgia, playing the kinds of games the creators grew up with. They just have modern art styles and improved level design that benefits from advances in gaming.
As we’ve seen in other media lately nostalgia is often used for marketing and otherwise discarded. Movies, TV shows, and even comics take old names and slap them on new characters. That’s not a problem of quality but of adaptation, but that’s for another discussion. Video games occasionally get their not-stalgia productions, like Bionic Commando, but not as much mockstalgia. Yet, Jon Irwin wrote a piece for Variety voicing his displeasure for nostalgia in video games, believing there’s too much of it. I disagree but read the article first before seeing my thoughts.
Continue reading →
Tell others about the Spotlight:
Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on January 23, 2019 in Video Game Spotlight and tagged Atari, BW versus, commentary, Nintendo, nostalgia, Super Mario (series), video games.
Leave a comment