“That’s what we forgot, our space helmets!”
Robotech: Metal Swarm
(also written on the cover and publishing info as “MetalSwarm”)
Academy Comics, Ltd. (December, 1995)
WRITER: Bill Spangler
ARTIST: D.S. Villalovos
I kind of wonder if this was planned to be another issue of Warriors that for some reason became this one-shot. It teases another story for next issue, and Metal Swarm would have been an odd name unless the same threat somehow showed up again. It doesn’t matter since we’ve reached the first comic ended by Academy losing the Robotech license.
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In a previous video I posted from the YouTube channel Midnight’s Edge we heard about decisions made by CBS considering Star Trek that are making a negative impact on Paramount’s own Star Trek movies. This might be confusing since I’m sure most of you thought Paramount owned Star Trek. It was right there in the credits. Paramount and Paramount Home Video distributed the various Star Trek movies. Why wouldn’t they be the rights owners? Basically it comes from a rather bad decision, the same kind of anti-sci-fi bias that killed Doctor Who despite both being successful worldwide, and corporate shenanigans.
In THIS video from Midnight’s Edge, the team looks at those licensing issues and how Lucille Ball, Viacom, a well-meaning split of companies that didn’t take into account who had which license, and genre hatred has led to the strange licensing issues Star Trek has and why CBS owns Star Trek but Paramount still has their own Star Trek. It should be less confusing if you pay attention.
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“I want a refund on this mosquito repellent!”
Transformers: The Reign Of Starscream #1
IDW Publishing (April, 2008)
WRITERS: Chris Mowry & Chris Ryall
ARTIST: Alex Milne
COLORIST: Josh Perez
LETTERER: Chris Mowry
EDITOR: Denton J. Tipton
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Some of the characters I grew up with that preceded me have fallen into obscurity but never really went away. There are kids growing up who never heard of Mighty Mouse despite numerous animation studios having done their take on the character. Also on that list is Woody Woodpecker. Created by Walter Lantz after one messed up his honeymoon cabin but his wife Gracie suggested he make the bird an antagonist in one of his cartoons rather than shoot the bird. (That’s according to his press agent and Wikipedia, so question the source.) What started as a one-shot in an Andy Panda cartoon became Lantz’s most famous creation. He’s now owned by Universal, who still uses him as a mascot at their theme parks.
There hasn’t been a Woody cartoon since Fox’s The New Woody Woodpecker Show in 1999, which I didn’t care for but it was more a taste issue than a quality issue. Then there’s that recent live-action movie that from what I hear wasn’t very good. Then again, Fox did produce the cartoon based on the first US Godzilla that at least for me redeemed the non-Godzilla so maybe Universal’s new attempt to return the character will redeem the existence of the movie? Universal isn’t going to TV however but YouTube with a brand new series starting next week. To set things up they’ve released a special about the history of the character and a bit about the new series.
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“Avon calling.”
Doctor Who #13
Marvel Comics Group (October, 1985)
For some reason there are no US credits. The Doctor Who fan wiki lists some but I can’t confirm them.
Doctor Who: “Junk-Yard Demon”
(originally published in Doctor Who Monthly #s 59-59)
WRITER: Steve Parkhouse
ARTISTS: Mike McMahon & Aldof Buylla
EDITOR: Alan McKenzie
“Yonder…The Yeti”
(originally published in Doctor Who Weekly #s 31-34)
WRITER: Steve Moore
ARTIST: David Lloyd
