January 7, 2019

Chapter By Chapter: Tom Clancy’s Op-Center chapters 24-26

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.

It’s easy to say that thus far I am not enjoying this book, and not for the reasons I thought. When I picked this up I had more money and more curiosity. I heard Clancy was a good author, although now there is apparently some debate who actually wrote it, and the ideas seemed interesting. As I got older I’ve learned to shy away from anything politically charged because I currently live in a period where EVERYTHING is politically charged, outside of shows for preschoolers and I’m sure their time is coming too. Politics is ruining everything because having an opinion isn’t enough. Now you must have “my” opinion on every last detail or you’re the worst human imaginable. If you disagree on anything or don’t agree hard enough you’re the enemy. Speaking as someone who has fought a personal rage inside almost as bad as Bruce Banner I am so over this crap! It’s ruined social media and chased people on all sides out (but not the ones we’d like to see leave) and turned potentially good stories and characters into propaganda.

And yet my problem with this book thus far isn’t the politics because somehow it’s less political than the stuff Marvel Comics is putting out despite being ABOUT political unrest. No, my problem is of the people handling the only ones I don’t hate either is supposed to be in charge of the investigation or morning a loved one. Everyone else are opportunistic jerks who may well scuttle this operation, the only proof of which I have they won’t are two more Op-Center books and a Net Force spinoff on my shelf. What isn’t helping is the page count for the chapters, showing too strong an obsession with the time stamp gimmick. That takes us right into today’s count.

  • Chapter 24: Tuesday, 9:15 PM, Seoul: five chapters
  • Chapter 25: Tuesday, 7:35 AM, Op-Center: six chapters
  • Chapter 26: Tuesday, 7:45 AM Reconnaissance Office: three pages

I’m starting to think the good story is in Seoul and the bad story is happening in America. I’m not sure I’m happy about that.

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Posted by on January 7, 2019 in Tom Clancy's Op-Center and tagged , , , , .

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January 7, 2019

“Yesterday’s” Comic: Green Lantern 3D

Luckily this is pre-Identity Crisis so this isn’t going to end as badly for Jade.

Green Lantern 3-D

DC Comics (December, 1998)

“Into The Light”

WRITER: Ron Marz

PENCILER: Georges Jeanty

INKERS: Dexter Vines & John Lowe

COLORIST: Mike Danza

LETTERER: Chris Eliopoulos

3-D EFFECTS: Ray Zone

EDITOR: Kevin Dooley

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Posted by on January 7, 2019 in DC Spotlight, Yesterday's Comics and tagged , , , , , .

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January 7, 2019

BW’s Morning Article Link: The Future Of Comics In 2019?

What is likely to happen with the world of comics in 2019 for publishers big and small, and what roles does the internet play when it comes to fans? ICv2’s Rob Salkowitz has a few predictions.

Posted by on January 7, 2019 in Comic Spotlight and tagged , , , , , .

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January 6, 2019

Jake & Leon #390: Cameo Style Fun

Did you spot the cameo?

If not, check out Captain Yuletide #5. They should be pretty easy to spot.

The Clutter Reports returns next week, and I did a quick post about that. I also did something I said I was going to do a year ago and I’m taking a break from Patreon. I don’t think anybody goes there and it’s just early access to stuff I post here. Nobody supports me there anyway, and I don’t know what I can offer to gain Patreon support. I’m also worried about some recent decisions they made that makes me question their commitment to free speech but that’s a whole other topic. I do still plan to update the rewards and milestones but considering how little it’s helped me and been more of a time waste reformatting an article between sites for no results I can’t get better through here it’s not a priority. I had hoped that I could make some money to help out around here but a job really is my only option at the moment. I am taking suggestions for rewards though. I want to give you guys my best and to get better and that’s what most of the money would go towards, but what are you going to do?

We also may be ready to change cable providers again and I most likely will lose my own phone line, which is going to be an adjustment but that’s how badly I need income, whether it’s a job or somehow BW projects lead to something. That means all the movies on my Finally Watched list need to be watched. I plan to make a file of all my reviews before I lose this DVR and still post them with some decent spacing. Hopefully that will give me time to find any movies I’m going to lose and find more movies on my list. I may post one of those this week but I don’t want to use them up at all once.

In comic reviews this week the Marvels will be reaching the “Eighth Day” story arc on Tuesday, a minor crossover event that I remember liking at the time. We’ll also be reaching the final leg of Transformers comics with a few comics based on Transformers Animated, only one of which I’ve actually reviewed when it came out. The miniseries and preview Free Comic Book Day issue I’ll be reviewing this week came out before I started the site. After that Transformers will be done outside of a few trade collections of UK stories I’ll be saving for Scanning My Collection.

If you want me I’ll be reading want ads and watching movies.

Posted by on January 6, 2019 in Captain Yuletide, Jake & Leon and tagged , , , , .

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January 5, 2019

Saturday Night Showcase: Reboot

In the days when computers were still new and scary without the internet, Tron could get away with almost anything in creating a world within the computer. It gets tougher now as computers become less “magical” and more a part of our lives we didn’t know we needed. (Some would say too much but that’s more a case-by-case individual problem than a group whole.) In 1991 Mainframe Entertainment (now I don’t know what they go by as they’ve changed names a few times recently) decided to get one last shot in by creating Reboot, which is also the first all-computer animated TV series. Not the first attempt. That’s at least as far back as Computer Warriors and I’ll tell you that story someday, but the first series to make it on TV, on YTV in Canada and ABC in the United States.

The show follows Bob, a Guardian–a program whose job is to protect the local computer, in this case the city of Mainframe (I don’t know if the production company name came first or not, but I’m sure it’s not a coincidence), from being deleted by games, imputed allegedly from outside the net by a user. While the intro claims that Bob’s personal goal was to find out if that was true this never comes up in the show itself. Instead Bob deals with viruses like Megabyte and Hexadecimal and their various forces, as well as other threats to Mainframe. Joining him are Dot, a business program who runs the diner as well as appearing to having a lot of influence in the city, and her little brother Enzo. Together they travel into games and deal with non-game threats.

The first episode is the only one that shows what happens to the city when the user wins. I wonder if this scared some kid out of playing games again? Megabyte wants Bob to do a mysterious favor for him and he’ll cause trouble until he does. Can Bob learn to rely on the help of others before the city is deleted?

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Posted by on January 5, 2019 in Animation Spotlight, Saturday Night Showcase, Television Spotlight and tagged , , .

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January 5, 2019

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Batman Beyond v2 #6 (DCAU)

This grittier remake of Wuzzles didn’t go over very well.

Batman Beyond vol. 2 #6

DC Comics (April, 2000)

“Most Dangerous Island”

WRITER: Hilary J. Bader

PENCILER: Craig Rosseau

INKER: Rob Leigh

COLORIST: Lee Loughridge

LETTERER: Tim Harkins

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Frank Berrios

EDITOR: Darren Vincenzo

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Posted by on January 5, 2019 in Animation Spotlight, DC Spotlight, Television Spotlight, Yesterday's Comics and tagged , , , , , , , .

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January 4, 2019

Free Comic Inside: Sectaurs–Spidrax & Spiderflyer

Just as Kenner did with the DC Super Powers Collection, Coleco had each figure in the Sectaurs toyline come with his own comic. (Had the line gone on long enough there would have been females as well but I don’t think it lasted that long.) In our last visit to Symbion we looked at the first one, with Dargon and Dragonflyer. For newbies, the toyline’s story takes place on a planet where scientists made a huge oopsie and mutated the planet, turning the people into insect-like beings, supersizing the insects and making them psionically linked with these “Sectaur” people, and basically ruined the planet. Now two sides fight over remaining laboratories, or as they call them “hives”, for control of the planet, Dargon leading the Shining Realm where all the mostly human people live, and Spidrax leading the forces of the more insect-like Dark Domain. Unlike the cartoon, the comics do not have Spidrax as leader, but leader of the forces under Empress Devora.

The second comic stars Spidrax and his mount, a winged spider fittingly called Spiderflyer. Like Dragonflyer (who at least is actually a mutated dragonfly), Spiderflyer the toy was a puppet with a seat for his Sectaur to ride. In all the line had four of these, two in the air and two on the ground, the rest coming with smaller partner Insectoids. Although this story focuses on the villains I don’t think they’re going to get off any more victories than the DC Supervillains, but we’ll see. There are no credits for this comic (or at least not seen in the scans over at Sectaurs.com, where you can follow along) so I’ll show you the cover and dive right in.

And somewhere in the distance insect Captain Marvel is born.

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Posted by on January 4, 2019 in Free Comic Inside and tagged , , , , , , , , .

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