#and many of their past reprint volumes

[cantsayidont]

When it comes to packaging Bronze Age or later comics reprints, this is how to do it: THE TOMB OF DRACULA: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION series reprinted the entire 70-issue run of the '70s TOMB OF DRACULA series; the short-lived GIANT SIZE TOMB OF DRACULA; the entire run of the contemporaneous B&W DRACULA LIVES! magazine; assorted contemporary crossovers; and the complete B&W version of Roy Thomas and Dick Giordano's adaptation of the Stoker novel (which began in DRACULA LIVES! but wasn't finished until almost 30 years later), all laid out in chronological order and filled out with some pages of original art and covers of past reprint editions. Admirably, Marvel left the B&W material in B&W, and while the color material is digitally recolored, they did a proper job of it, limiting the heavy-handed effects (like that glowing full moon) to the covers.

I'm disappointed that the mooted Volume 6, compiling the short-lived B&W TOMB OF DRACULA magazine and the revisionist Dracula origin from BIZARRE ADVENTURES, was solicited and then canceled in 2022, but this is a pretty thorough collection of everything prior to that point. If anything, it's arguably a little too comprehensive: The DRACULA LIVES! magazine was only indirectly connected to the continuity of the color comic, so combining both in a single volume is a bit jarring, and the Thomas/Giordano adaptation of the novel works better compiled in a single volume than split into serialized chunks. (Fortunately, Marvel has also released that adaptation in standalone form, in both B&W and color editions; stick with the B&W, as the color is heavy-handed and only muddies Giordano's excellent artwork.) However, that's nitpicking a mostly well-conceived compilation of one of Marvel's best comics of the '70s. Even the price was not horrible given the format and page count ($44.99 USD per volume for about 500 pages). DC could take a lesson here.

There's just one terrible problem: Marvel almost immediately let these books fall out of print! Marvel has generally done better than DC at keeping its back catalog in print, but there are some weird lapses, some of them nonsensical (like letting the first couple volumes of a series fall out of print while later installments are still being published). An A for effort, a B- for follow-through, then.

#comics #tomb of dracula #neal adams #gil kane #gene colan #tom palmer #marv wolfman #gerry conway #dc HAS done stuff like this #like collecting all of the original batman and the outsiders in three color volumes #they just don't do it with any consistency #and many of their past reprint volumes #have been out of print for decades now #roy thomas #dick giordano #dracula

[wutheringmights]

After I finished reading The Epic of Gilgamesh today, I entered a fugue state where I sat down and read the entirety of Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce.

On the record, I have had a lifelong love and adoration for Pierce's Tortall books. I first read the Song of the Lioness quartet when I was 11, and they rewrote my brain. I love them so much. I reread them and the other Tortall books on a semi-frequent schedule.

It's been a while since I reread any of the Alanna books, if only because my sister took our shared copies when she moved out. I've been meaning to buy my own set for a long while now but haven't been able to justify the purchase. The other week, I just so happened to find the first two volumes at my local indie bookstore. I bought them immediately, as well as ordered the third and fourth book. (And discovered that the store owner knows me by name-- when I went to pick up my order, she saw me and said, Hi Frankie! I got your books over here.) (I may be spending too much money there.)

So I have been in a bit of an emotional rut these past few weeks. Work sucks. Life stinks. The temptation to run off to Tortall and curl up in the fantasy story that captivated me as a kid has never been stronger.

Ergo, I ran off to read the first book as soon as I could.

If you're looking for any critique of this book, series, or Tortall in general, I will never give it. Sure, it's problematic and dated, and in many ways imperfect, but someone else can list out all of its issues. They're all perfect to me.

Anyway, the book. I should say something about this book in particular.

One thing I appreciate about Pierce's writing is how she handles school settings in fantasy. Learning and training is so mundane. All of her heroines have to work hard and put in extra hours of study in order to improve, much less keep up with their peers. It's so normal that it circles around to being weirdly refreshing.

Also, there is still no other fantasy author who handles period talk and birth control the way Pierce does. We make fun of the trope of fantasy birth control nowadays, but I rarely see it presented as it is here: as a part of normal puberty lessons and given long before sex is in the girl's radar. And even today with the glut of YA fantasy stories out there, I still have yet to see menstruation be portrayed as frequently or as bluntly as Pierce writes it.

There was a period of time publishers really tried to push the Tortall books as straight YA, which doesn't work for that reason alone. You gotta market them to middle schoolers. They're the ones just starting puberty talks, and getting scenes like this is so good for their brains.

Moving on: I fucking love these characters. Alanna was an icon of brash, temperamental heroines that have shaped my taste to this day. I love how even in the first book, Jon is kinda shitty. I adore George Cooper. Talk about a taste maker the way this man sets a standard.

I just can't be coherent when it comes to any Tortall books. I have no thoughts. Head empty. I am going to binge the rest of this series as quickly as I can before my library book comes in. Then normal book content will resume.

Before I go, I need to talk about the book covers.

Growing up, my sister and I had these covers:

Which, god. I love them. The black is striking. The art is incredible. Alanna looks so good. They were the perfect pocket-size too. I was going to buy the same edition for my copies, but instead I got the 40th anniversary reprints:

Not bad at all! These books have had some seriously bad covers, and these look great! Very anime, which will appeal to the 11 year olds who need to have their socks rocked by this series.

But, man. I really miss those black covers. One day I will splurge and buy a second set of them just so that I can stare at the art.

#having a not normal time on tumblr dot come right now #alanna my beloved #if you were a deity i would worship you #me rambling #me reading #bookish #books and reading #books #bookblr #Alanna: the first adventure #the song of the lioness #tortall #tamora pierce

[actualmermaid]

It's been three months since I made this post about Saints Sergius and Bacchus, John Boswell, classical Western homoeroticism, and Christian homophobia.

Since then I have read both of Boswell's books on the history of gay/queer people in premodern Christianity (Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality and Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe), familiarized myself more fully with the spectrum of charges against Boswell and his scholarship, and realized that he's been the subject of ideologically-motivated smear campaigns by just about every political/religious/academic faction you can imagine. My conclusion: Professor Boswell is a saint, martyr, and important queer elder who does not get the respect that he deserves, and I'm in awe of the sheer volume of the massive genius brain that was somehow crammed into his little blond head.

ANYWAY. This is an official followup to my original post, now that I've read Boswell's work.

I take back my hunch that Boswell's work was not intersectional. He was, in fact, a pioneer in the field of medieval social history, and utilized a wide range of critical lenses in his work. He was inhibited by the lack of documented evidence about some groups (for example, he was frequently criticized for not writing more about lesbians, but he was open about the difficulties of researching lesbians in history and explained what he was doing as a scholar and as a teacher to mitigate this) but he constantly called attention to issues of class, gender, and other social factors wherever they were relevant.

I was RIGHT in noticing that the slight difference in rank between Sergius and Bacchus seems to be an erastes/eromenos indicator! Boswell spoke at greater length and with greater sensitivity about erastes/eromenos dynamics in history, so if you want a deeper look into that, you should read his books.

I was also probably right in noticing that the legend of Sergius and Bacchus is seeded with various forms of Byzantine propaganda! I really wish that I could talk to him about it. :(

Both secular queer theorists and religious queer theologians seem to be most uncomfortable with the fact that Boswell was reporting on historical facts and observable social forces, not idealized concepts of queer people as somehow being more ethical or spiritual than the straight majority. He included evidence of things like abuse, prostitution, and exploitation not because he thought they were cool, but because they were part of the material reality of queer people's existence in the past, just like they were part of the material reality of his own 70s-80s gay subculture.

That was his bottom line: gay/queer people are a normal human variation, and as a historian, he could provide hard proof of their existence and what their lives might have been like. If his work seems "shallow" or "dated" to some more modern queer researchers, it's only because so many people were willing to dismiss his scholarship, reject his work, and abandon his research leads after he died. But, he was actually super smart and his scholarship was actually meticulous, so even his most dedicated critics have been unable to "debunk" him. Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality most recently had a 35th-anniversary reprinting, and he is still being cited as an authority by more recent scholars.

Even though the full strength of the Church and the Academy were leveled against him, his work has proven its own worth. He still deserves to be read and discussed by both professional scholars and enthusiastic hobbyists. And, the Open and Affirming movement in Christianity wouldn't be as strong as it is without his confirmation that "gays and lesbians are normal," as he put it, and not simply a construct of modern society.

Rest in power, Professor Boswell. We won't forget you.

Since I made that post, I have also opened a sticker shop with a bunch of queer Christian saint icons, including Boswell and some of the queer saints he discovered/wrote about. They're pretty cool. You should buy one.

#christianity #history #lgbtq #queer #lgbtq history #gay

[albertonykus]

NEW English Doraemon Manga Series Coming Soon

After 10 years with no fresh releases, it has been announced that Shogakukan will be publishing a brand new series of bilingual English–Japanese Doraemon manga. This will be the third English–Japanese Doraemon manga series to be produced. Based on available information from the Shogakukan website, it looks like the stories in volume 1 of the new series will not overlap with those in past bilingual series, so it is likely that those who have already read the previous releases will be able to enjoy this one without encountering duplicate stories. A new feature of this series is that it will apparently include links to English audio recordings of the stories that can be listened to online.

Something that catches my eye is that up until now, the bilingual Doraemon manga series have pulled stories strictly from the original 45-volume Japanese collection. However, one of the stories slated to be included in volume 1 of this new series ("In 45 Years...") was first reprinted in Doraemon Plus instead, indicating that this series will contain at least some entries from outside of the 45-volume set.

Note that the bilingual English–Japanese Doraemon series are distinct from the English Kindle translation. (Consider that English story titles in this new series are different from those used by Kindle.) As I documented in my index to English Doraemon chapters, the Kindle translation already covers nearly all Doraemon manga stories. However, the Kindle release is only available digitally in the United States and Canada (outside of a limited print release in Southeast Asia), and contains more localization that is not always strictly faithful to the original. (I previously did a brief comparison of the bilingual vs. Kindle English translations here.) If you prefer reading the manga in print format or want an easy comparison between the original Japanese vs. English, the bilingual series are worth checking out.

I haven't found any information on how many volumes this series is planned to have in total, but volume 1 will be released on Feb. 21 of this year and can be pre-ordered on Japanese Amazon.

#Doraemon #Manga #ドラえもん

[historyhermann]

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal Spoiler-Filled Review

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is a mature supernatural fantasy comedy with steampunk elements. Genndy Tartakovsky, who is well-known in the animation industry, is the director and creator. He is best known for Dexter's Laboratory, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Sym-Bionic Titan, and Samurai Jack, and more recently, Primal. This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, being reviewed here, wouldn't exist.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the forty-first article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on July 24, 2023.

This series has a simple plot: a group of heroes are inadvertently awakened by Copernicus, a steam-powered robot, in bodies of three teenagers (Emma, Alfie, and Dimitri), rather than in bodies of adults, like in the past. These heroes are opposed by a mysterious foxlike woman (voiced by Grey DeLisle), who embodies evil.

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal drew me in as a person who enjoyed watching Star Wars: Clone Wars as a kid (and have re-watched it various times), and liked Samurai Jack and Sym-Bionic Titan. Voice actors like Jacob Dudman (voice of Edred) who voiced two characters in Primal, and DeLisle, voice of the mysterious woman and the original Melinda, strengthen this series.

Delisle is well-known for her work in animation, including voicing characters in Invincible, Kid Cosmic, The Owl House, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, DC Super Hero Girls, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Elena of Avalor, Star Wars Rebels, The Legend of Korra, Young Justice, and My Life as a Teenage Robot. In contrast, Hazel Doupe, the voice of Emma in this series, is unique. This is her first voice role, as she has only done live-action series before.

I wasn't as familiar with Jeremy Crutchley, Demari Hunte, Alain Uly, Tom Milligan, Ron Bottita, or George Webster, the voices of Merlin, Alfie, Seng, Lord Edward Fairfax, and Winston in Unicorn: Warriors Eternal. I say this even though Crutchley voiced Glad-One and One in Infinity Train, and Uly as Lieutenant Maylur and two stormtroopers in Star Wars: The Bad Batch.

Others, such as Hunte, Milligan, Bottita, Webster, appear to be new to voice work. Rosalind Ayres (voice of Lord Katherine Fairfax) previously voiced characters in video games while Robbie Daymond (voice of various one-off characters) lent his voice to the notorious Curious Cat in Volume 9 of RWBY! He voiced Jesse in Infinity Train season 2, Raymond in OK K.O. Let's Be Heroes!, and many other English dubs of anime characters.

The steampunk setting in Victorian London, in 1890, in this series, reminded me of Steamland in Disenchantment, the upper city in Arcane, or the similarly steampunk action anime, Princess Principal, which spawned a multi-part film series. The steampunk genre has even reached into indie animation and comics. It includes films like Snowpiercer, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Howl's Moving Castle, along with animated series like Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water and The Legend of Korra. I am even reminded of an unaired 2001 pilot for Constant Payne, by Indigenous writer Micah Wright. It has a strong steampunk aesthetic.

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is different than all of those previously mentioned. It is unique in its own way. Just as Samurai Jack was set in the future, with magic, robots, lasers, and the like, this series is set in an alternate world. Unlikely the haphazard and strange inclusion of futuristic technology in the far-too-short Yasuke, this series is much more complete. It draws inspiration from works by animators Max Fleischer and Osamu Tezuka, films by Hayao Miyazaki (like Howl's Moving Castle) and other steampunk aesthetics.

The show's character designer, Stephen DeStefano, worked on Sym-Bionic Titan, Primal, and other projects, with Tartakovsky. He pushed, as did Tartakovsky, to ensure the series had an "old aesthetic" but was told "in a very contemporary way". The studio producing the series, Cartoon Network Studios, has produced many of Tartakovsky's previous projects. Some of the same animators who worked on his previous projects may be working on this series.

These animators could not do their work without the writers. If a recently circulated spreadsheet is representative of Cartoon Network Studios as a whole, it would mean that, for animators, there is repetitive work, little opportunity for advancement, sterile environment due to the Warner-Discovery merger, disorganization, burnout, and overwork. There are two primary show writers: Darrick Bachman and Tartakovsky. While the latter is more well-known, the former is not, despite his work on Primal, Samurai Jack, Regular Show, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and many animated series, some of which he worked on with Tartakovsky.

If Glassdoor is accurate, each of these writers makes somewhere between $46,000 to $83,000 a year. I would guess that Tartakovsky is paid more than Bachman. In any case, the conditions the writers work in influences whether a show is "high-quality" or "low-quality". High Guardian Spice was said to be the latter, until it was revealed that the working conditions at Crunchyroll were horrendous. This does not appear to be the case for Cartoon Network Studios. The recent closure of the iconic studio's headquarters, with employees told to move to a sterile, lifeless Warner Bros. building instead, it does not bode well.

Even some predicted that under David Zaslav, it is difficult to "imagine a future in which the studio’s original animation output can match what it has been in the past," with a strong shit to reboots rather than original series. However, if the writers, and actors, are successful in their strike, these conditions may change for the better. On the other hand, the studios are doing all they can to burn down motivation of actors and writers, while stockpiling completed works and scripts before the strikes began.

Coming back to the series, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is a relatable coming-of-age story. The protagonist, Emma (who can transform into Melinda) is struggling to determine whether she is "Emma" or "Melinda". She loses control of her powers after any emotional outburst she has. Having one's powers tied to their emotions is not new. In the last half of Elena of Avalor's final season, the protagonist, Elena Castillo Flores, had to wrestle with the fact that her magical abilities were tied to her emotional moods. The same was the case for Steven Universe in the series of the same name, and in Steven Universe Future.

For Emma/Melinda, her anger and fury seem to be how she expresses her power, in a super saiyan esque transformation. While this expression of raw power can be effective in defeating enemies, it doesn't prevent her from hurting people, unintentionally, in the process. For instance, in the second episode, she uses this power to defeat a huge magically possessed elephant. However, her fiancé Winston is badly hurt in the process and the surrounding area is nearly obliterated.

The use of her abilities in Unicorn: Warriors Eternal are complicated by her relationship with Edred, a warrior elf. He reincarnates in the body of a wanna-be magician named Dimitri. After Copernicus resurrects him, he rushes over to Emma/Melinda, and kisses her. While he has memories of their relationship, Melinda-as-Emma does not. Making matters worse, she still has some romantic feelings for Winston, who wants to "rescue" her from her "new" form.

This contrasts with Edred. He can effectively fight with a sword in manner which almost seems reminiscent of the sword-wielders in anime or those in Western animations like Amphibia, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and Steven Universe. Like all Tartakovsky productions, Edred has his own specific style. Every character is stylized in their own way. This is thanks to the aforementioned character designer, DeStefano, and work by many others at Cartoon Network Studios. The same is the case for their battle moves and attacks. It sets the series apart from others with similar themes.

The team of Emma/Melinda, a cosmic monk named Seng (in the body of a young Black ruffian named Alfie), Copernicus, and Edred, make an interesting combination. Each has personal issues they must overcome. Seng cannot fully comprehend the cosmic plane as a young child. Edred has a "clouded" mind despite having a largely intact memory and retains his power. Emma/Melinda has an identity crisis. She even tells Winston, at one point, that she isn't Emma anymore and that the Emma he knew is dead. This is a cold, hard truth which is hard for him to accept.

The complications in each character's lives make it an increasing challenge for these heroes, whose souls are tasked with protecting the world throughout eternity. With the scrambled memories, especially of Emma/Melinda, and the fact that only Edred remembers the most about their role in fighting evil, it makes the story that much more intriguing. The secretive villain is almost as devious as Shadowy Figure in O.K. KO!, but shares more characteristics with Kilgore in Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1. He aimed to change the Justice League into teenagers, so they are "vulnerable", are ripped apart by the world, and have to deal with emotions they ignore or regress as adults.

There is one major difference. The villain in Unicorn: Warriors Eternal never intended on awakening the Order of the Unicorn (Melinda, Seng, Edred, and Copernicus). Instead, she wanted to destroy Copernicus so the order would cease to exist. The villain exploits the situation for her own ends. She hopes that these heroes will be resurrected one final time. The heroes will do anything they can to stop this evil, with Edred declaring that the villain will "not succeed".

In future seasons, Melinda's insecurities may be exploited just as Invictus did with Ash Graven in Final Space. If so, she may turn against her friends. It is hard to say whether the series villain will be as devious as Aku, who had built an entire empire and dedicated many of his resources to track down Samurai Jack.

By the show's third episode, there is a clear focus on discrimination, specifically how humans will "other" that which they don't understand. The response of the British police and Scotland Yard to a theft of priceless artifacts bound for the British Museum is to arrest anyone engaged in "magic" in London. There are mass arrests of soothsayers, fortune tellers, and anyone else on Mystic Row.

To make matters worse, they put up a Wanted poster for Emma/Melinda. Even when two spiritualists, Clarice Leydoux and Lao Xi Sheng, tell the police detective the reality, he doesn't believe them. Clearly, the police in this series, including Inspector General Hastings (voiced by Gildart Jackson), do not know how to deal with the situation at hand. People such as Agatha (voiced by Rosalind Ayres), another royal official, try and put in place more order.

Through it all, Emma/Melinda tries to figure out herself. She isn't sure of her connection with Winston, who she inadvertently injured. She even goes to a seance which separated her two identities, making her question whether she wants to be a hero or not. As a result, she declares that she hates the other part of herself. Her father even realizes that she is different, remarking "that is not our daughter". Winston remains in pursuit, even when he clashes with Edred on who "truly" loves her.

After the first two episodes, the series explored the insecurities of Seng. The villains cause him to be swallowed by a cosmic fox. The latter, known as a Lady Fox, attacks them. An amazingly animated chase scene on the rooftops follows, reminding me of similar scenes in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Samurai Jack. In the fourth episode, this is more apparent. Seng is unable to use his powers while he is trapped on an abandoned ship with other Unicorn team members. He even starts to become translucent! Although they escape this predicament, it could foreshadow more trouble for Seng in the future.

As Emma/Melinda learns more about the story of her Melinda side, with the child version of original Melinda voiced by Marley Cherry Hilbourne. She learns that her mother, Morgan Le Fay (voiced by Peta Johnson), was terribly injured, thanks to her. It is revealed that Merlin (voiced by Jeremy Crutchley) is her father. The conflict between the two halves of herself remains an important part of the story. This is especially the case when they all fight a big squid threatening to destroy the town. Her attempts at reconciliation do not go well, even though she is making some progress by the seventh episode.

At the end of the fifth episode, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal takes a bold step: it appears to kill off one of its protagonists, Copernicus. This is comparable to a similar "loss" of Octus in Sym-Bionic Titan. While Emma/Melinda is most distraught, she works together with Edred to find someone to repair Copernicus. They find an inventor named Otto (voiced by Jason O'Mara), thanks to a robot named Dashwood (voiced by Chris Butler). He works on a huge floating airship, which functions like a space station.

He remarks that Copernicus is like a robot he hasn't created yet, but he says it feels familiar. Copernicus cannot fully come back until his magical power is restored. He is a futuristic magical being. The power from an ancient magical stone is used by Merlin. He brings Copernicus back to life. Even so, this sequence implies that Copernicus can die, in certain instances.

The seventh episode of Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is a rollercoaster ride. It is revealed that Edred left his bride-to-be, in an arranged marriage meant to unite two clans, to be with Melinda. At the same time, it is further implied that Emma/Melinda somewhat remembers this. The quest to get the necessary magical power, the presence of Merlin, and restoration of balance, causes Edred's brother, Aelwulf (voiced by Jack Bandeira), to regain respect for him.

At the end of the seventh episode, the Unicorn team learns that they still have evil to fight, and that their time in this world has not ended. It is implied that Merlin will help they stop it. The eighth episode throws this into question. Out of nowhere, Merlin appears and tells them to come "quickly" to battle an evil machine killing the land. While they meet the mighty tiger Rakshasa (voiced by Sunkrish Bala), Merlin attacks Emma/Melinda, surprising them all.

The last three episodes of Unicorn: Warriors Eternal lay bare tensions between the group members. This is clear with the addition of a new member, Winston, who can become a werewolf. Predictably, Edred objects, as Winston has feelings for Emma/Melinda. All the while there is the fight against evil, which exudes dark magic.

This reaches a critical point in the ninth episode when the evil leaves Merlin and enters the cosmic realm. They meet an older Seng who has been fighting it for over 20 years, with no success. It is said that if the evil devours everything, the world will end. Merlin and Rakshasa remain optimistic until  Emma and Melinda are split apart.

I wish Unicorn: Warriors Eternal had been longer. By the eighth episode, it appears that Melinda is coming to peace with the part of her who is Emma, and vice versa. This seemed too quick. Her struggle with her identity could have stretched across an entire season of 20 to 26 episodes. Take Cassandra in Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, for example. She is mentally manipulated by Zhan Tri. Even so, she tries to figure out her identity and how she feels about Rapunzel. Like that series, which ended with a bang, this series is burdened by compulsory heterosexuality. Tangled differs by featuring well-recognized gay vibes between Rapunzel and Cassandra, shipped by fans as "Cassunzel".

Much of the internal struggle that Emma/Melinda experiences is couched by a love triangle. Emma loves Winston, while Melinda loves Edred. However, Edred hates Winston and vice versa. Due to the propensity of male characters in this series, there isn't any character, female, non-binary, or otherwise, written for Emma/Melinda that would allow her to have a queer romance.

Even so, the struggle of Emma to reunite with Melinda, resulting in defiance of her by-the-book parents, is promising. Considering this series is set in the 1890s, it is no shock that Emma's parents try to hold her back. They think she is out of her mind and want to bring her to a doctor, who will commit her to an asylum. Her actions, including drawing on equations on the walls of the bathroom, akin to the oft-memed scene from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia in which Pepe Silvia goes on a conspiratorial rant, don't help her case. In her defense, she is desperate and wants to get back to the cosmic realm at any cost.

This episode goes off the rails when two huge men try to capture Emma and bring her to "the doctor". What follows is an intense chase scene in which Emma has many near-death experiences, and barely escapes those trying to get her, even riding a steam-powered tram to Mystics Row. Two mystic warriors (Clarice Leydoux and Lao Xi Sheng) offer to help her. With their assistance, she uses the Heart of the Forest to get to the cosmic realm.

The Unicorn: Warriors Eternal finale concludes strongly. Emma inspires everyone, reuniting with Melinda, and convinces them to combine their powers into one. They strike a decisive blow against evil forces. This is blunted by the surprising revelation: Morgan is trapped in the heart of the evil beast! At the end of the episode, the protagonists find themselves in a bizarre world in which "the evil" has changed everything. Emma/Melinda gets the last word, noting their determination to save Morgan and defeat the evil being no matter what.

The ending is not definitive, but is open-ended. The central conflict rings true, especially if seen as a metaphorical extension of Genndy Tartakovsky as a Jewish immigrant who faced pressure to support his mother and live up to the myth of a "model minority". A possible second, or even third, and fourth season, could expand upon these characters and their struggles. Possibly, the series may go an Infinity Train route, having different characters for each season.

I hope that any possible future seasons of Unicorn: Warriors Eternal would increase diversity of the cast. Surely, there are talented voice actors like a Black men Demari Hunte (voice of Seng) and Victor Alli (voice of Adult Seng). They are joined by a Filipino man, Alain Uy (voice of Lao Xi Sheng), an American actor of Tamil descent, Sunkrish Bala (voice of Rakshasa), and a British actor of Iraqi, Lebanese, and Indian descent, Brian George (voice of Darvish).

From the available lists of the cast members, I'm not seeing much diversity beyond the aforementioned individuals. A quick read of the cast list for Primal, indicates that the series has a much more diverse cast than this series! Perhaps, this is just reflecting the fact that historically, London was ethnically homogeneous, composed primarily of White British residents, until after World War II. By 1891, over 5.6 million were living in Greater London, a number which would grow in later years.

Cartoon Network Studios president, Sam Register, is an executive producer, and Shareena Carlson is supervising director. Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is expertly animated thanks to Studio La Cachette in France and Studio Zmei in Bulgaria. Cartoon Network Studios is the aforementioned production company. This is reinforced by the show's music, composed by Tyler Bates and Joan Higginbottom. It is effective, connecting the action with the story. It makes you excited to watch each episode, and become more invested in the characters.

None of this is much of a surprise. Bates is a well-known producer, composer, and musician, primarily of action and horror media, including the John Wick franchise. He was probably chosen because he composed the music scores of Sym-Bionic Titan, the fifth (and final) season of Samurai Jack, and Primal.

Similarly, Higginbottom was a composer on the same season of Samurai Jack, Primal, and John Wick Chapter 4. Tara Billinger, known as the creator of Long Gone Gulch and a storyboarder, did production work on the series as well. The animators either worked on French productions not known in the U.S., or series such as Love, Death & Robots, and Primal. Even Tartakovsky did some storyboarding. The animation, background art, and set pieces are strong in this series.

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal may have been a passion project for Tartakovsky. However, it is incorrect that the plot is "humdrum". Furthermore, Emma/Melinda is not a "poorly written" character, nor does she have a "pat dilemma" or lack emotional complexity. Her struggles are at the series' center. On the other hand, this series, like Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Sym-Bionic Titan, and Primal, is male-centered. In fact, Emma/Melinda is the only female protagonist.

The series has "urgent stakes" and the characters are intriguing. This accompanies amazing mythologies and some worldbuilding. It could be better, but it is not missing "the magic of Tartakovsky". Instead, this series is unique and different from other Tartakovsky series in the past. Surely, I'd love to have queer characters and even have a love triangle akin to the one between Hazumu Osaragi, Yasuna Kamiizumi, and Tomari Kurusu in Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl. Unfortunately, this series did not go that direction, instead having male-female couples, without any one-way crushes.

Overall, despite my criticisms, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is an enjoyable series and I'd recommend it. I can hope that it improved to become even better, breaking out of the good-evil dichotomy, and other common tropes used in Tartakovsky's work.

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal can be watched on Adult Swim or streamed on Max, DirectTV, and Spectrum. It can be purchased through Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu, or Microsoft Store.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

#unicorn warriors eternal #max #hbo max #genndy tartakovsky #wga strike #sag aftra strike #primal #samurai jack #sym bionic titan #high guardian spice #crunchyroll #animation writers #mergers #cn studios #warner discovery #adult swim #final space #cassunzel #cassandra tangled #steampunk #comphet #diversity #animation #pop culture #reviews #steven universe #elena of avalor #super saiyan #Youtube

[flowergirlmiwa]

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG set analysis #1: Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon

[note: i wrote this months ago and i figured i'd post it here. might do more later. this was originally intended to be a script for a video but i didn't make it. it's written like a script for a youtube video though]

Let's take a deep dive into every Yu-Gi-Oh! set and find some fun stuff to talk about. Most importantly, what were the cards from each set that had lasting meta relevance, and how good was the set as a whole when viewed from the lens of 2022? I'd also like to give some thought to internal archetypes and themes for the set, along with strategies intended to be used with them.

Legend of BEWD was the first set in the TCG, coming out even before Starter Deck Yugi and Kaiba. This set released in March of 2002. Now, I don't know if you knew this, but the TCG is largely based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG, which started three full years before the TCG. Upper Deck, the licensees of Yu-Gi-Oh! when it launched in America in 2002, definitely had some catching up to do.

This set in the TCG is mostly a combination of the OCG's Phantom God and Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon reprint sets. Legend of BEWD is an interesting set, as it more or less sums up the first half year of the OCG, skipping past all the buildup for the eventual release of Exodia, having to track down various packs to find the rare card you need, and having a LOT of really terrible normal monsters. Don't get me wrong, this set does include plenty of terrible normal monsters, because this set basically had to serve as a representative for that early period in Yu-Gi-Oh! history. Starter Decks Yugi and Kaiba would also be responsible for introducing many of the notable early OCG cards to the TCG, though I'll save that for another time.

The power level of the game pretty much immediately starts to ramp up after this, leaving BEWD feeling pretty pedestrian in retrospect.

Legend of BEWD was a reprint set in the OCG, compiling cards from the original OCG Starter Box and Volume 1. In the OCG, Volume 1 served as the first set of the game, with the Starter Box releasing the following month and introducing many staple cards. The TCG's Legend of BEWD is over twice the size, adding in many of the more notable cards from Volumes 2 and 3 as well, including cards like Monster Reborn and Uraby from Volume 2, and Red Eyes Black Dragon and Man-Eater Bug from Volume 3.

Below is where all the cards in the set were first released in the OCG (use Copy Image Address if you can't read the text)

That all aside, how is it as an actual set? Well… this set, emulating the spirit of the OCG sets it was based on, can best be described like this. All of the commons are unusable and some of the super rares were must-have format-defining staples. Pound for pound, this set contains some fantastic cards that see play to this day, but let's just say the value for a consumer at the time would be up in the air. It was basically a gamble to see if you could pull the Super Rare Raigeki.

But anyway, let's actually talk about those commons, shall we?

This set contains many low stat normal monsters in the common slot, in fact, that's pretty much all there is with the exception of the classic field spells. Out of all the cards in this set's common slot, Umi must has definitely seen the most play. There were also some of the first (and most basic) cards that gave the player more life points and took away the opponent's, with Red Medicine, Hinotama, and the legendary Sparks. Remove Trap is the last Spell/Trap at common I haven't mentioned yet, and although it was pretty much useless upon release, it's a pretty simple niche removal card that served as a really budget option for some metas with a high amount of meta relevant continuous traps.

Now for those Normal Monsters. Skull Servant is here, and has seen all kinds of rogue play over the years thanks to the card getting its own archetype later down the line. As for your basic normal summonable beaters, the best you were getting was the 1550 ATK Skull Red Bird and the 1500 ATK Uraby. Players were given the privilege of a 1650 5 Star monster at common to encourage them to try the tribute summoning mechanic. Besides iconic manga and anime cards like Beaver Warrior and Masaki the Legendary Swordsman, there's nothing else to talk about here, so let's move on to the short prints.

You may already know this, but a short print card is a card that looks the same as your standard common but is harder to pull. For this set, the Short Print slot contained the basic Equip Spells. They actually assembled these in particular from all across the first three Volume sets after they had been introduced in Volume 1. All fifteen of them were the only occupants of the short print slot in this set.

Moving on to the Rare cards, this is where things start to get more interesting. Half of the cards in the Rare slot are terrible Fusion monsters not worth talking about, while the other half constitute monsters you'd set and better Spell/Traps. The obvious standouts here are Pot of Greed and Fissure, cards that were immediate staples and saw play for years. Pot of Greed was eventually banned for being insane, while Fissure saw use on and off by all variety of casual and comp decks for its reliable monster removal. On a less exciting note, the burn and life point theme returns with Final Flame and Goblin's Secret Remedy, and we have the world's worst D.D. Crow in Gravedigger Ghoul.

Stop Defense, while hardly being meta at any point, was a simple way to get over your opponent's walls. Speaking of… Spirit of the Harp, Mystical Elf, Aqua Madoor and Giant Soldier Stone were the first 2k defenders in the game, and they're all Rare or above. Nice. Mystical Elf isn't actually in the rare slot though as it was given the super rare treatment. At this point, these are some of the best monsters in the game, though beyond nostalgic value they haven't seen much use since these early days.

Next in the Rare slot we have Two-Pronged Attack and Dragon Capture Jar. If you're ever running these, you must be down bad, but they're classic early OCG cards all the same. Finally we have a trio of Flip Monsters. Hane-Hane is perhaps most notable here and has a pretty good effect to bounce a monster on the field. Armed Ninja targets a Spell on the field and destroys it, which hasn't historically been a very good effect, though the card did happen to fall into the Ninja archetype later on. Reaper of the Cards is a mistake.

Moving on to the Super Rare slot, this is where pretty much all of the best cards are. Dark Hole. Raigeki. Swords. Man Eater Bug…. okay, it's still not the best set. In fact, a bunch of the Super Rares are cards that would be quickly reprinted in a Starter Deck, making them extremely accessible at common rarity. This would end up being the case for Man Eater Bug, Celtic Guardian, Mystical Elf, Curse of Dragon, Trap Hole, and Dark Hole.

The Super Rares that remained exclusive to this set for a while were Swords of Revealing Light, and the extremely powerful Raigeki. Polymerization and Flame Swordsman would be exclusive for about a year when the Joey Starter Deck released. Overall, many of these are pretty good cards that would see play over the years, most notably Raigeki, Dark Hole, and Trap Hole, but the Starter Decks continue to loom large over the potential value of BEWD because of its many reprints.

Ultra Rare slot is nothing but iconic cards, baby. Dark Magician. Blue Eyes. Gaia the Fierce Knight, Red Eyes, Monster Reborn, THE FIVE PIECES OF EXODIA! I think every card in the Ultra Rare slot later got its own archetype. Starter Deck thunder-stealing this time includes Reborn, the obvious Blue Eyes and Dark Magician, as well as Gaia the Fierce Knight. Compared to stuff like Raigeki, these iconic manga cards may not be as good on paper, but they usually ended up finding a way onto decklists anyway due to card requirements. This is why you'll still see people running your standard BEWD or Dark Magician in a comp deck.

Now, when I said before that these two got reprints in the Starter Decks, that's not completely accurate. Yes, the TCG was already getting a taste of alternate card arts. The Starter Decks contained the original OCG art while Legend of BEWD contained the card arts first introduced in December '99's EX Starter Box. While pulling a Monster Reborn from the pack represented a major bling upgrade, the fact that the two sets had different arts adds something special to Legend of BEWD. Finally in the Secret Rare slot we have Tri-Horned Dragon and Gaia the Dragon Champion. Gaia the Dragon Champion finishes out the set's suite of Fusion Monsters, while Tri-Horned Dragon represented something a bit more interesting. In the OCG, the card had originally been released as a Nationals participation card and was later reprinted in Premium Pack 3 (a set with ten cards in it). As such, it's the only card in the set that wasn't primarily available through a main set in the OCG (the Exodia pieces were reprinted in Phantom God, Tri-Horned Dragon went from promo to Premium Pack).

#my post #yugioh #yugioh essay series

[popculturebuffet]

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye Issue By Issue: Issue #1: How To Say Goodbye and Really Mean It (Patreon Review for Brotoman.exe)

Hello all you happy Autobots. I hope you've packed your ready for a long and lengthy quest as today I undertake one of the longest planned projects i've ever done, courtsey of my newest proud patron, @brotoman-exe. It's the first time in a LONG time i've had a new 5 dollar patron and he seems to be in for the long haul as he's requested monthly reviews of a series that spans over 50 issues and goes into a second volume. And that's not getting into if we cover the dark cybertron crossover, the tie in issue for revolution, or the annuals. But it's one i'm more than happy to do for as long as possible and covers a series near and dear to my heart.

Transformers More Than Meets The Eye is one of my faviorite comics again and the work that got me back into transformers. It's a wonderful epic that is in my faviorite genre of storytelling: A ragtag bunch of misfits who often have no buisness doing what their doing let alone being a group becoming a found family of sorts while proving there more than what both those around them and they themselves think. It's also loaded with humor, character, and giant robots, so what's not to love.

It's also a chance to correct a past mistake. See this isn't my first attempt to do a retrospective of this comic. Back in pride 2021, I did a review of the first three issues of this series, as the series is both one I badly wanted to cover and one that is warmly and greatly represntive, using the fact 90% of all transformers are male to be gay as heck. And I did.. but a combination of an overtaxed schedule, a shaky mental state, and said schedule being flip turned upside down lead to me constantly delaying part 2 before scrapping it entirely and planning to cover the series later. So when Brotoman asked me to cover it monthly, I had only one response

So this is the first project i'm doing over again, and hopefully not the last as I intend to revisit New X-Men at some point, and hopefully this time i'll finish what i've started, however many years it takes. So let's get ready to blast off into space as we meet the crew of the lost light again for the first time. Before we get into the series proper we need to cover what lead us here.

Transformers At IDW

For those less familiar with comics, IDW is a third party comics company that mostly focuses on liscened comics, with highlights being reprinting a bunch of european Duck and Mouse Comics, being the current home of Sonic the Hedgehog, and biggest of all, being the primary home of Hasbros properties: Dungeons and Dragons, My Little Pony, GI Joe and many many more (Including everyone's faviorite Space Knight Rom) got comics here and naturally Transformers was one of the first. And to really get this right, they decided to launch a whole new continuity under transformers legend Simon Furman, who took over for the marvel comic and has written tons of transformers since.

And because I wanted to be throughly prepared for the first time I attempted reviewing this run and to know where things had been I read all of Furman's run and the runs after it to have a good sense of history. Here's an archival photo of me after that experince

Yeah I'm not one to take the side door so i'll come right up front and knock: most of the comics in this continuity before More Than Meets The Eye are mediocre at best and downright awful to sit through at worst. While i'm glad I read them all to have proper context for these reviews, i'm also glad I NEVER have to touch these things again.

Starting with Furman's run which took the idea of "robots in disguise" dead seriously. And some of the ideas are good: having the autobots actualyl use their disgusiese more, a shadowy third party in the war that runs out of a company. They even cleverly redo the headmasters, an old toy gimmick that had aliens pilot transformers, by having them be knockoff transformers needing a pilot to work. There were really solid ideas and reworks of various gimmicky toylines. There's also a variety of good one off stories in the one shots, as furman used Spotlight issues (literally called that) to shed a light on other things going on and expand the story past the main minis.

The problem is that while there were good specks of story here and there, in paticular the series made me a fan of blaster, six shot and has an excellent version of hot rod, if not as good as what more than meets the eye would later do but we'll get tot that, the main story is REALLY boring and dry. The characters don't really have a lot of personality , even my boy starscream, the story moves at a very slugish pace and there's just no levity. I'm not expecting it to be joke o clock but I need more to really keep me going. Ther'es just not a lot here to latch onto or really care about. The ideas are there but the end result wore me out by the end.

Sadly things didn't improve all that much with the next era, All Hail Megatron, a 16 issue maxiseries by Shane Mcarthy that was IDW's first attempt at a soft reboot of this continuity. It would be FAR from the last. I went into this one hopeful despite it having a mixed reception, as the premise is badass and one any transformers fan can get behind: After the autobots decided to leave earth unguarded to deal with another crisis at the end of the last series

Megatron takes the opportunity to conquer earth, and uses a reluctant traitor in the autobots to stage attacks on every other autobot garrison in the galaxy, stranding our heroes and having him have won. Or in simplist most bonechilling turns, Megatron WINS.

So once again we have a good concept: Megatron won, our heroes are left trying to find SOME WAY to turn the tide, and earth is left at his mercy. It should be a no brainer.

The first issue was executive meddling: Apparently Hasbro didn't want McCarthy to show too much of the actual destruction and nightmare that would enuse from their takeover.

So shockingly, numbing the sheer terror and nightmare that ensues when a bunch of technicolor evil robots get to run rampant on the world without anyone to stop them , made the story fall flat. We see some of what they do but without any real damage or stakes it just dosen't have weight.

The next issue is the humans. Most aren't focused on enough with only one, Andy Reid, is really getting what the book should have focused on: normal people stuck in the crossfire when evil wins. It's not a bad concept but with the fangs removed we only get to see it from two perspectives. And one of them.. is Spike Witwicky

Spike is every action hero cliche poured into an action figure mold for an off brand gi joe that somehow became a real boy. Spike is a swaggering dipshit who thinks he's the greatest and the narrative agrees because Spike has snipers trained on it's family and if he dosen't call them every four hours they fire. Having one resourceful hero against the decpticons isn't a bad idea but having this guy be at the front yeesh. And somehow he only gets WORSE with each series.

The other problem is our heroes, spend most of their desperate situation... bickering with one another. I get why: one of them betrayed the others, hope is low, and optimus may be dead. It isn't till Hot Rod shows up with his gaggle of intresting autobots that the story gets some life. I don't mind the autobots having to make their way back or be out of the main action on earth, that's kind of the point. I don't mind it being grim. What I do mind is it taking so long for a lot to happen, and for things to really kick into gear. I'm suprised just how tiresome robots bickering gets but here we are.

Not only that the decpticons themselves are just kinda there.. there's a good idea of Megatron pondering what he does now he's actually won, but it goes nowhere. And that's really the series in a nutshell: it has some great ideas it ocasionally captalizes on but ultimately goes nowhere.

The one bright spot is a tie in mini centered around a character introduced in this series. A character a lot of people really diddn't like at the time: Drift. And I see why: In All Hail Megatron he gets a lot of focus. Problem is Drift is an entirely NEW character Hasbro apparently crammed down fans throats. As usual the homer simpson approach to promoting a character failed.

His mini though was one of those bright spots I mentioned; A decently intresting tail about a city that keeps itself out of the war that finds itself hope to one of the worst of the decepticon army and how it changes the future Drift into a better person. There is a decent amount of standard "we can't interfere because we're self righteous morons who will inevietibly be punished for our hubris" stuff, but Drift himself is engaging and the story does challenge that sort of viewpoint. Also said city and society will be important later as Drift is a main characte rin MTMTE , which helped smooth out the edges and made him into a fan faviorite.

So we're onto phase 3, the ongoing book Transformers by Mike Costa. Mike Costa is a good writer otherwise, what i've read of his x-men run being a fun paced action thrill ride. But this book?

Out of the three main phases before the big relaunch here, this is the one people seem to hate most. And it. Is. JUSTIFIED. The premise is the autobots are on earth, trying to repair the damage done but being hated by the US Goverment and seen as no better than the decpticons. Optimus decides he has to go fuck off to space because that worked out so well last time, and leaves it with bumblebee, which leads to shoddy leadership, conflicts with paper thin analogues for foreign countries, and a lot of humans being stupid and not getting that as incompitent as they are the autobots are the good guy and Hot Rod being an impulsive idiot and trusting a guy literally named Swindle because the constructicons came off as the better option compared to the autobots.

It's a murky mess of plotlines and bad decisions that i've mostly blocked out for my own sanity and won't spend forever recapping here. Ya'll REALLY don't deserve that headache.

Once again a mini series was the ray of light here. Last Stand of the Wreckers. Roberts contributed to the story while the writing and art for it were by Nick Roche, a great artist who contributed to the first arc of MTMTE before the stress of doing a monthly got to him. It's a wonderfully gritty tale that succeeds where the other attempts at being darker failed, following the rough and tumble Wreckers, essentailly the X-Force of the Autbots, as they go on a suicide mission to a prison that's been taken over by the Decepticons, lead among them Overlord, a new character and a throughly terrifying villian that keeps slauthering people and doing terrible things so daddy megatron will notice him at last. It's tense, sad and throughly great nad worth checking out. And like Drift and the Circle of Light, Overlord will also be important later. Last Stand is what helped James put his foot in the door.

What solidified things though was Chaos Theory. I plan to cover this series indepedently when we get to the shadowplay arc, as it's sort of a prequel to that and lays the groundwork for the various trips to past cybertron the series takes. It takes place before the war as tensions bubble and a future member of the MTEMTE cast tries to murder megatron in his cell. It's great, and has a great moment with Megatron admitting his villiany that will be mentioned later in MTMTE.

So shortly after that Chaos happened, a messy finale. To make a long story short, Galvatron, who in this continuity is not the same as megatron, raised an army of zombies called sweeps to raze cybertrona nd later merged with something to become an outer god. Megatron one upped him, things sure did happen, and Roberts helped write the script. The important things are that Cyclonus, Galvatron's old buddy who aided him till he realized he be crazy, turned against his friend nad saved Hot Rod's life, Cybertron was radically transformed into a primal state, and Megatron was defeated.

As a result we get what would kick off the next era of IDW Transformers, an attempt to right the ship by doing something radically diffrent: The war the Autobots waged against the evil forces of the Decpticons.. was over. The Decipticons surrendered. The question was.. what now? What do you do next when you've spent CENTURIES fighting a war? Oceans rise, empires fall but it's much harder when it's on your call.

So that's where this era kicked off with the Death of Optimus Prime. I opted to jump into the series instead of this as while not a terrible start at all, it's where I came in as this issue is in the first MTMTE trade, it's more of a pilot for the sister series Robots in Disguise. See instead of having a mini series or just one ongoing, this era had two with the split coming in said one shot.

Death of Optimus Prime follows the title character as he finds despite the war being over.. things aren't great. Like at all> The New Reborn Cybertron is having a temper tantrum and causing earthquakes, disasters and what not with most of it REALLY not being safe and only Iacon, which somehow surivived everything, standing. Not only that most of the cybertronians who opted out of the war or abandoned it have returned.. and blame the autobots for everything that happened. The NAILS, as their dresrively called should have a point, that they didn't want any part of this war. It is perfectly valid to object to a war especailly when it's senseless. In this case thoguh it's sorta like objecting to the allies during world war II: Megatron was not going to stop until he had won and would kill anything non cybertronian.

With Optimus unable to repair things due to the matrix of leadership having split right in half like a kit kat bar, our heroes end up divided on the issue after a map is found inside, leading to the mythical Knights of Cybertron, a group that allegedlys founded a Cyber Utopia: Bumblebee wants to stay on Cybertron and try to set up a goverment despite not being wanted. Hot Rod wants to fuck off into space to go find the knights, hoping they have a way to heal the planet, as well as a way to honor their culture instead of buldozing it. Optimus.. gives them both halves like a parent who just wants his kids to stop fighting and plans to leave, doing so to settle things down since he's the face of war and taking his old name of Orion Pax back.

So the series split into two: Robots in Disguise follows Bumlbee as he tries to make a go of things nad fails as the NAILS won't shut up and Starscream spins circles around him, playing the NAILS well while being awesome because well. he's starscream. He also gets a crown eventually which is wonderful. As you can tell i'm not a big fan of RiD,. RiD is a lot of arguging, people being stupid, and the sympathetic characters being sidelined. It's also a LOT of Prowl who we'll get into in a moment but for now is best summed up as

It gets better in Season 2, with Optimus joining the cast, along with Cosmos a friendly UFO and Sky Linx, whose a giant space dragon thing that's also a space shuttle, as well as Thundercracker and his kitty. But like so many before it's good ideas, bad execution and overall no matter how many times I tried I just couldn't get into John Barbers run. A third mainline book, Windblade (Which later became Till All Are One), was MUCH better and I truly recommend it, with it's writer not only helping fix the verses shaky reputation with women robots (Arcee became one after being born a male transformer via horrifying experiments and became angsty as a result> I shodulnlt' ahve to explain to you why this is bad but someone shoudl've to Simon Furman, who then got into a fight with Windblade's writer over it despite her being objectively right> Their cool now but still.. jesus man) , having fun intrigue and of course my boy starscream in a tiny crown.

So yeah as you can see the IDWverse was a bit shaky, but it had it's bright spots and it's sad it's coming to an end, with it's second reboot having ended after also failing fairly hard and Image now having the rights via it's Skybound imprint. But for all ti's faults, it gave us some bright lights.. and no light was brighter, better, or weirder than the lost one. So with all this exposition handled.. we can finally set off

The Issue Finally

I may comment on the covers on and off, we'll see, and i'll be sticking mainly to the main covers, as there's just so many dang variants and this review is long enough as is, I can't imagine what the others, even withotu the idw exposition, weill be like. This cover is near and dear to my heart, and i'm fully biased on that as it's an homage to one of my faviorite covers of all time that kicked off one of my faviorite runs of all time.

Given the runs are both semi-sitcom (if less so in MTMTE's case) takes on classic properties, it fits like a glove and it won't be the last time we get an homage to this cover as we get two more echoing it: One for season 2 and one.. that I won't spoil because it's a MASSIVE spoiler for the final arc of season 2.

The issue opens with Rodimus giving one hell of a speech to the people of cybertron. It's one of my faviorite scenes in the entire run, and for good reason setting the tone of wonder and exploration that goes in hand with the heart, hyjinks and tragedy of this run.

While he's obviously selling a big epic quest with tons of stakes, what he says there.. and what he says after really underlines the true meaning of the quest

"You Deserve To See The Universe Without A Gun in your hand"

It's a chance for once to enjoy the universe. Even if there's a big, booming underlying goal to everything Rodimus is doing, both the one he says, and the one for his own drive and ego we'll get to shortly, the real appeal to most of these bots watching.. is a chance to start over. No wars waged to destroy the evil war of the decpticons. Just a noble goal, a chance to see the universe, and all the time in the world to do it. It appeals to one of the purest and most loved aspects of sci-fi, what made Star Trek so beloved and what's made works since, from Star Trek's own newest series Brave New Worlds to spirtual spinoff the Orville: The love of exploration, of going out into the world and finding yourself or something new. The wonder of this kind of thing. The fun of setting off into the world and seeing what happens. MTMTE mixes Star Trek's wonder and scope with a bit of Firefly's taking a bunch of scraps from a war and seeing what they do next, and is helpfully not created by a guy who sucks dirty ass in thunderstorms, so that's nice.

Speaking of sucks dirty ass in thunderstorms, watching this along with cybertron is Prowl

Prowl is an overly paranoid, overly fascist police officer who feels the war isn't ended. He also sucks and I hate him. He's with Wheeljack who dosen't suck and in fact has a realy cool helmety face i've always loved. Wheeljack predicts a max exodus as let's face it, who dosen't want to fly up into space in a giant ship and explore the stars. Prowl however thinks it'll be a non event and that his calculations show barely anyone leaving

Yup as usual Prowl is wrong about people, what's going on in the world and the general concept of things, and the next day, the day most of the issue takes place, a GIANT crowd is lined up to board the lost light. IT's almost as if the guy who thinks the war still isn't over can't grasp that people no longer want to fight it and just want to get on with their lives.

We'll resume the "Prowl Sucks and I Hates Him" hour in a moment as we transfer from one of the worst versions of a G1 Autobot to one of the best, as Ratchet is overseeing a NAIL protester who transformed himself to death. While i'll have to admit I hadn't seen really ANY of G1 going into this comic, or into this retrospective , Ratchet already had a place in my heart thanks to transformers animated and the fact he's about the same here, a crotchety old legend who ends up with a bunch of younger less prestigious weirdos for his own reasons, was a big up.

Ratchet admits he could've saved the guy had his hands not been shaky. We also get one of the best terms in all of transfomers

It really highlights roberts approach to the franchise: unlike other works in this verse, Roberts isn't afraid to embrace how silly things are. He got away not only with naming something rigormorphis.. but having the dead body transform wtih the old cartoon sound effects. Yet at the same time it underlines how he treats things: he's not afraid to fully embrace the silliness of the franchise or crack jokes, it's what keeps this work so great.. but he also does everything with a purpose. Rigor Morphis, while darkly hilarious.. is also a geninely intresting concept that fits perfectly with the world. Roberts is dedicated to geninely building up how Cybertronians function, their culture and their unverse and taking it seriously enough to still work, but with enough good humor and sense that this is a franchise built upon selling toys, comics, tv shows and other merchandise to not take himself TOO seriously. It's an approach I hope future shows including the upcoming at the time of this review Earthspark take to heart.

Naturally given he has focus, Ratchet is joining the ship which bumblebee takes with all the grace and civlity of a 12 year old. LEADER OF ALL OF CYBERTRON FOLKS. He needs him here, but Ratchet makes a valid argument why he wants to leave: he's served every prime since Nominus and thus has been at this for a LONG time, and knows his number will be up eventually. Since Rodimus has promised to pick up any strays they find on the way who were lost since not EVERYONE from the war has been found just yet, Ratchet sees it as the perfect opportunity to find and train a replacement, his swan song. It again underlines a common theme with the Lost Lighters and this work as a whole: It's not the journey it's the destination. As we'll see most people join not for the knights of cybertron quest, but simply to find something else. For Ratchet it's a chance to pass his legacy on and make sure his knowledge and skills live on long after what time he has left is gone.

We next meet Cyclonous, who as I said was part of the whole Galvatron mess. He's an ancient warrior, a bot out of time who awoke to find a cybertron he didn't like and that now it's only gotten worse with the primal reversion, the gleaming cities he remembers from Cybertron's golden age now replaced with a nightmarish landscape. Why he's leaving is obvious: On a Cybertron that throws him in with the Decepticons depsite not really being one and that is unrecognizable, what reason has he to stay? He finds signs of life in a cave though that seem familiar and heads to check them out.

We next get more prowl

And this is where he REALLY shows his ass.. or whatever transfomers have that serves as an ass. Point is he's dressing down his old partner in both senses of the word Chromedome for leaving.

Yeah as we'll find out a few issues from now said "talent" is mnemosurgery: Chromedome can break into a bots mind for information, which was used as an interregation tool both pre-war as a cop and during the war as Spec Ops. It's also a talent Chromedome BLATANTLY dosen't want to use again.

He's had to do TERRIBLE things for the war and like most soldiers, especially those suffering from Trauma which Domey canocially does, he's carried enough of the war with him. He's earned a right to live his life without having to keep doing the things that haunt him. This is all recorded by Chromedome's current Conjux Endura, Rewind whose pointedly Prowl's oppisite: he geninely supports Chromedome wanting to get away from what he used to be and heal into what he CAN be, he's a non combatant having as we lean a memory stick for an alt mode, and he's calm and gentle to Prowl raving like a paranoid luantic.. which dosen't remotely let up after

Yeah the table flipping apparently became so memetic it got turned into a running gag as well as canocially just something he does a lot. Bless you James

So as he radios some agents on board the LL to load some cargo, which shockingly is not remotely a good thing and we'll get to much later in the series what that cargo actually is, we can get into why I hate Prowl so much.

Prowl is a narcist,and a facist, the latter terms can be thrown around haphazzardly, so I am treading carefully.. but it applies and is fully necessary here. Prowl dosne't care for anyone else on an emotoinal level, only what they can do for him, only seems to think he's right even undermining OPTIMUS FUCKING PRIME later in the verse, and being blatnatly descrimtory to the nails and decipticoons. I'm not saying either group has issues: The Deciptcons were the bad guys and while some geninely want to reform or not be mistreated, many are just as bad as ever, and the NAILS, while having some valid points, have a majority of them screeching said points. Prowl cares for nothing and nobody except his own warped version of right and wrong that involves tourture, no real cybertronian rights, and Prowl being judge jury and executioner. He's everything wrong with policing wrapped into one character. He dosen't want the war to end because of one sad simple truth: he's obsolete without it. He's the kind of soldier, the kind of cop, the kind of person who fights not because it's the right thing to do, not because there's no better option, not like any of his commrades.. but because he ENJOYS it. He enjoys killing, tourtruing and doing this and framing it all as the greater good when really it's just him wanting to be the hero because without the trappings of war, he's just a bully who refuses to move on like everyone else is trying to do. It dosen't help that as far as I can tell he SURIVIVES the entire run of this universe.

I just.. needed to get my rage out NOW so I can move on and focus on the characters I actually like. Speaking of which next we meet Tailgate, a tiny transformer whose suffering from a bad case of no legs, having fallen down the hole six million years ago and preparing to blow some shit up to escape.

We next meet Whirl. Whirl is someone with severe issues, both with impulse controls and mentlaly a former wrecker fired for reasons that'll be revealed dramatically later who is tryign to talk out his issues.. to a pile of dead sweeps, clones of Scourge, another friend of Cyclonuses.. and why he comes in. Naturally Whirl's first instinct on being found in a room full of sorta corpses is to try and murder the witness.

We then get a bunch of intros, starting with Red Alert, the ships mildly paranoid and gruff head of security who in turn lets three new additions to our main cast onto the ship: First up is Brainstorm, a mad scientests mad scientest who has a neat look and a briefcase that for some reason Rodimus is letting him just take on board without remotely checking which can't posisbly backfire

That Chekov's gun got a WHILE before it fires off though so onto our next crewmember: Swerve!

Swerve is a small, mouthy little autobot who can't seem to shut up. So naturally he's one of my faviorites as just how long this review is this far in should tell you I also cannot shut up. So I relate to him, and parts of his character that come up later, heavily.

Next we have Rung, a brand new character.. though it can be hard to tell. As you can probably see at this point, while James isn't immune to using more prominent autobots (Hot Rod, Ultra Magnus, Ratchet, Cyclonus), he's also fond of taking characters who mostly existed just to sell more toys and really fleshing them out. IT's why many of these characters got new toys and Swerve and Tailgate in paticular were part of Walmart's g1 risues.. still haven't been able to get my hands on those or any of the lost light crew aside from Megatron. And yes Megatron joins the crew in season 2. We'll get to that in a year or so, but yes that actually happens. And it is as awesome as it sounds.

But Rung is brand new, a psyctrist whose alt mode is unknown. That as you've probably guessed by now is also a plot point. He collects models of ships and is an intresting addition that shows Optimus' compassion: While rung was a psychatrist pre-war too, as we'll see in a flashback arc later, the fact Optimus brought one in despite having no combat value shows why he's well Optimus. At least for now> This is pre his "I'm going to conquer earth for the greater good!' phase> Which also happened and isn't as awesome as it sounds. Rung ends up getting knocked over by Cyclonus and Whirl.

Before we get to them though we check back with our main trio. And it's here i'd like to get into how I found this book. See I get most of my comics digtially and through Comixology, a spinoff of amazon that has large amounts of comics digtially at lower prices than retail and that's before we get into the sheer amount of sales. It's more cost effective for me than print so i've been using it for some time now. And if that weren't enough they have a netflix-style subscripton service, comixlolgy unlimited which for 6 bucks a month gives you an ungodly amount of access to tons upon tons of comics. If you want to check out idw's transformers before the lsiecne dries up, this is the best way as pretty much everything from it is on there by now

So when they added the first seasons of RiD and MTMTE I was curious, not only because LIndsay Ellis had mentioned this continuity had gay robots but because both sounded intresting. It was simply a matter of which to read first.. and RiD won for fairly simplye and rediculous reasons: I've always deeply liked hot rod and a comic seemingly starring him seemed great. The fact it ended up ticking a LOT of storyteling boxes I like was icing on an already great cake

As for why the first is the dumbest: he looks dope. I still want SOME non-bay version of him on my shelf. The less dumb reason is that after watching the bay movie as a teen and enjoying it, I hopped on my computer when I got home and desperate for more cool robots, found transformers the movie. It remains one of my favoirite pieces of the franchise and a film I intend to cover at some point as I fucking love it. Keep in mind I went in blind so I didn't know the various dead bodies were actual characters, nor that a lot of the new cast came out of nowhere, but even knowing that now I still have an attachment to the season 3 cast. Not season 3 itself as I haven't watched it and i'm clearly better off that way from what i've seen via Phelous, but thed characters had great design, were fun to watch, and were part of a film I loved> The film's also why I love Grimlock so damn much, as should we all. I have one but I want more because you can neve rhave enough talking robot dinosaurs. Same with STARSCREAM, who I do need a figure of, who is glorious as always.

So having an attachment ot Hot Rod and Ultra Mags, not so much Cyclonus but this comic made me love him so hey, it was an easy sell. And i'm glad I did as this is easily the best version of him i've encountered: James took a character that was hot headed and impulsive and had made some stupid decisions, and decided to lean into it. As such Rodimus is impulsive, egotistical, and when we see it is bragging about hwo many crew he's got like a ten year old who just got a cooler transformer than his most hated friend. He's also endearing: it's clear this quest means a lot to him, he cares about his crew and while he may be an ipulsive hammy manchild, he's a cool one. He's basically james t kirk if he were less horny and more hopped on skittles.

With him are two contrasts: Drift whose been made into a new agey samurai who constantly tries to stay peppy and Ultra Magnus, who in this continuity is a giant stickler to the rules who vies wearing your autobadge at an angle as a high crime, isn't fond of his new crew, and is the defention of hardass. The two ballance him out with Drift being the encouragment Rodimus needs and a reminder of the spirftual part of the journey and Ultra Magnus being the hard nosed voice of reason our hero needs.. while also having such a stick up his whatever a transformer has that substitues for an ass that he's a comedic foil. Rodders and Mags are bascially Jake Peralta and Captain Holt without the father son angle, with drift just kinda there, but still not half bad.

So back at the fight Cyclonus shows his character as he dosen't WANT to do this, Swerve is just trying to you know murder him. Meanwhlie Tailgate has been passing out on nad off for the last 6 millon years and prepares to finally ignite the energon.

As if this wasn't enough, the unambgiously gay duo and Ratchet are heading for the ship, with the happy couple bickering a tad as Chromedome tends to bring up the fact his boyfriends alt mode isn't a vehicle. Thei rinterrupted by the fight, with Swerve having one and preparing to execute cyclonus and blaming him for his own issues.. btu Ratchet isn't remotely fooled, figuring Cyclonus might of done something but can't talk Swerve down. Thakfully a giant energon explosion can and our heros decide to load the two on the ship and let Rodimus sort it out, along with Tailgate who shows up talking about a ship and assuming it's their ship bring him along for repairs. Rewind plans to catch up.. after buying some mysterious but clearly shady discs from Swindle.

Thus we come to our ending. Rodimus prepares to take off and refuses to take a call from Bumblebee and we get some great comedic timing

Shockingly Prowl ISN'T to blame but we'll get to that next issue. The important thing is that cybertron thinks everyone is dead for now.. and blames Prowl because I would too if I didnt know they sere still alive. Hell if I didn't know why the engine malfunctoned i'd still think it was an ATTEMPT to kill them

But it isn't, they simply jumped with their quantum engines (their verision of lightspeed) too soon, so as a result they got shot halfway around the galaxy , the ships damaged and many of the crew go flying out it onto a planet, with Rodimus planning to retrive them. We end the main story on rodimus getting some.. less than stellar news when he sees what he thinks is a meteor shower

The issue itself ends on a message from the future... with a bunch of foreshadowing of what's to come...

Where this is from.. well that's for season 2 to settle as is everything else, but it's amazing just how far in advanced Roberts had this planned out as where it comes from was always intended. As for where.. you'll just have to stay on the ship won't you? One last bit of buisness before we depart though

A Most Precious Soundtrack

So one notable thing about the series is it has a soundtrack, with James Roberts, much like fellow comics mastermind Kireon Gilleon, picking out some tracks for each issue, with a few exceptions, as well as a theme song for each season. So having not listened along in the past as I tend to binge read a lot of the time, I thought it'd be fun to give these songs a listen and see what sticks out, what I think, how it fits the issue etc. I'll dot the character themes in with these early issues, but for now i'll just be focusing on the theme for the season and the two tracks for this issue. I'd also like to thank wadapan over at the transformers community wiki who saved this sountrack for us all , which is what I found via google. Let's begin.

Season 1 Theme/Series Theme: Lost Coastlines- Okkervil River 

An upbeat indie song about the band itself struggling to hold it together, using the metaphor about a two sailors going into unknown territory, which fits the comics themes of self doubt, exploration and strife as well as it's tone, upbeat yet full of angst, adventure and longing under the service. I'll likely have this one on repeat post review.

Across the Universe- Fiona Apple

This one I had sought out before for reasons that escape me now. The song itself is a fairly beautiful, very 90's cover. I still prefer the original and version from the movie Across the Universe (Another one for the massive pile of "Stuff I want to review at some point). It's not bad and at first I wasn't sure how much it fit.. but "nothings going to change my world" actually fits the story really well: Our heroes are setting out and get nothings going to change their world. A bit more literal than obviously intended, but still a nice little pun.

Fun fact, the image for this on youtube and likely other services is from the Plesantville soundtrack, a movie I do want to see at some point and sounds fairly good about two teens ending up in a black and white sitcom. But the cover is uh.. it's a lot folks.

Like I know a gimmick of the film is characters going into color but... why does someone set a tree on fire. Why are they making out in front of it. Are these characters even in the movie? I have all the questoins about plesantville, this soundtrack and its marketing team and none of the time to answer them.

Absent Friends- The Divine Comedy

Now this one fits way better. It fits the hustle and bustle, the idea these characters are leaving and may never come back (and with the issue ending explosion it's thought they won't). I really like the western tone of this, it's really neat and I may have to check this band out more. Cool stuff

So with that we're finally finished. This review was a lot and a lot of fun and next month we see who lived, who died and meet Swerve. So till next time thanks for reading, follow for more and consider joining my pateron yourselves. Later days!

#hot rod #transformers #more than meets the eye #idw #ultra magnus #swerve #drift #tailgate #cyclonus #red alert #rung #james roberts #comics #animatoin #robots #lbgtq+

[lesewut]

“As the Labourers make men rich, so the more Labourers, there will be the more rich men […] the Labour of the Poor being the Mines of the Rich.”

[John Bellers in 1696]

“Das Kapital - Kritik der politischen Ökonomie” by Karl Marx was originally published 1867, depicted here is a reprint-version of the fourth revisioned edition (1890) by Friedrich Engels.

Sometimes we start reading a book with much more respect and higher expectation than maybe usually. Especially when a work is well-known, it seems roughly possible to be without any bias. Often we do not know exactly how many instances of criticism a work’s got through over the periods of time and which people are behind the judges, discussing the relevance of a work.

The first volume of the three-part treatise was written during Marx lifetime, but the first thousand copies seemed to be unsaleable. This changed as Friedrich Engels, financial sponsor, but also moral and mental supporter, reissued the treatise posthumous.

How surprised I was to read Marx’ (kind of legendary and eminent work) “Capital: A Critique of Political Economy” with so much fascination and prying for the next pages. It is not only essential to understand how capital is defined and explained, especially considering world’s economics, but it’s also important to retrace how “wealth” is made at the expense of physical and mental health of the individual worker, unfortunately still today (Marx criticises Adam Smith a lot, not only accusing him for plagiarism, cf. B. Mandeville “Fable of the Bees” and “Wealth of Nation” vol. I, ch. I; but also condemns his theory of realising profit by accepting the loss of mental health and physical energy, cf. “The Capital” p. 383 & “Wealth of Nations” vol. V, ch. I, but many other Economists are considered and critically reflected too).

Marx is giving many historical references and examples of economic events in the past that are highly linked with social structures. He also knows how to explain and use facts for better illustration and draw a line between his theory and the prevailing opinion. Many sheets of paper were written intensely full by myself, I order some thoughts here, more for myself than factual accuracy.

... the steppe nomads, who were the first to establish a form of monetary system, because their worldly goods were mobile [cf. “mal” means livestock and also possession in Turkic language]      

...how precious metals served as scales for valuation methods and how gold transformed to a tool of circulation and money itself becomes a product and consequently capital [without the transformation into a shape of good, money is not automatically capital!]                       

... how ancient philosophers defined and explained the devision of labour [noteworthy is the influence of Egypt: Caste system and how cooperative working processes and the concentration of human-power established a high cultural standard, also because it was forbidden for handcrafts to engage in other areas of work, cf. Marx underlines the difference between the artisan, who knows his whole craft, is able to work individually and is therefore not depending on the whole “machinery” unlike the manufacture and mill-worker, fundamentally normative for the quality of the artisan/craftsman where the regulations of the guilds ! ]        

... how autarky in ancient Indian society guaranteed balance  

... how use-value is defined throughout society and the availability of workers,  creating exchange-value and how the surplus value is used by the capitalist to expand his production and therefore his capital 

... the combination of a mechanism between qualitative arrangement and quantitative proportionality societal processes of production, in other words a specific organisation of work, emerges a new societal productive force that is only possible in capitalism, because of the method to generate surplus value and the self-exploitation of the capital (Aristotle considers the chrematistic as the most unnatural form of all occupations! The circulation is the root and source of her monetary wealth, continuous and absolute enrichment is her goal...)

…how the mechanism of accumulation process is increasing the labouring poor, this is rooted in the character of capitalistic mode of production. In the simple reproduction, the capital is continuously reproducing itself and in extensional scale the reproduction reproduces more capitalists or less, but than more wealthy ones.

... the peak of British economic history in 1846/47, developed some  structural changes in working time, limited to 10-hours-a-day, generated the relais-system, regulated child-labour by compulsary school attendance [very half-hearted plus illiterate teachers]

...the struggles professions had to endure, due to technological progress 

...adulterations of goods and food, especially bread [interesting was it to read about the draft bill of 1860 “for preventing adulteration” discussing when a good “is exactly what it is” in commercial aspect or adulterated in juridical aspect; it was common to use alum for flour, more methods of adulterations in Chevallier’s treatise “Sophistications”

Making the reading experience informative and deepening appercaption!

It would exceed my capacity to present all my notes in a coherent order and I am truly no expert on this subject, but at last I would like to share some literature, that Marx relates to and which seem worth reading:

“Advantages of the East-India trade” by an anonymous author

“De morbis artificum” by Prof. Ramazzini, published 1713, dealing with occupational diseases 

“Über die Entartung des Menschen“ by Eduard Reich is highlighting the degeneration of the labouring poor and the impact on following generations (I guess it has to be read cautiously 🙃)

“An Enquiry into the Connection between the Price if Provisions and the Size of Farms” written by J. Arbuthnot in 1773, is according to Marx the “genesis” of the self-glorification of the capitalist farmer or merchant farmer compared to the small farmer

“Wissenschaft der Logik” by Hegel is consulted to explain the quantitative displacement, Marx was Junghegelianer, he adopted Hegel’s dialectic, explaining that individuals, folks and epochs are just necessary stages in the great and big world-historical process, but there’s also disparity in other theories (like the definition of beeing, the consciousness of class-affilitation, ...)

And last, but not least: A personal book recommendation for better understanding of the modern and globalised capitalism: “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” by Thomas Piketty ; It also deals with the postponement of elections, Piketty presents a programm for restoring the middle-class by formulating a participative socialism, reducing the disparity of assets, involving the whole world by consistent bookkeeping and establishing a transnational theory of democraty with a focus on increasing social-economic norms of economy + shows similar to Marx how social inequalities are ideologically and politically motivated

#literature #book #Marx #Capital: A Critique of Political Economy #Karl Marx #Friedrich Engels #anti capitalism #political economy #philosophical books #philosophy #19th century literature #1867

[paulagnewart]

Sonic the Oz-Hog Act 1/12: Never Forget Your Firsts!

Sonic Super Special issue 3 AU Publication Date: 14th January 1998 Price: $3.95

It's January 1998. The Rural Fires Act had come into effect just in time, for the nation's traditional summer of sports were only superseded by its traditional summer of bushfires. Both east and west coasts had taken a hammering through a combination of record breaking heatwaves and arsonists, leading to at least four preventable deaths. Residents praying for rain got more than they bargained for within days when fires gave way to weeks of floods and cyclones.

Any kids looking to escape the ravaging weather would be disappointed; 1998 was the first summer in nearly 20 years of waking up to a host-less morning show. After one complaint from moral guardians too many, beloved wisecracking puppet Agro was booted from his own program, with Channel Seven instead offering repeats of Gargoyles, The Jetsons and All Dogs Go to Heaven. The lack of Agro meant Channel Ten's rival program Cheez TV had little to worry about, and it showed with their own January lineup of Transformers Generation Two, Spider-Man and The Tick repeats.

Having vowed to never introduce a 10% tax on all goods and services under their watch, John Howard’s conservative Government prepared to backflip on their election promise. A move destined to make teen wallets even lighter when buying CD singles of that month's chart-topping song, Aqua's Doctor Jones. Personally the already high price of CDs was of little concern back then, instead more worried about accidentally sleeping in Saturday mornings and miss another installment of The Dinky-Di's quest to stop Earth's number-one eco enemy Mephisto. Sadly if ratings were any indication, I was the only one waking up early enough to watch anyway.

Names including “Beetleborgs”, “Extreme Dinosaurs”, “Venus DeMilo” and “Pokemon” were unheard of, though would certainly go on to pester parents by year's end. SEGA World Sydney, Australia's largest indoor theme park and last refuge for everyone's favourite rodent, was crawling towards its first anniversary. Two new final volumes of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, a series which hadn't aired on TV in years by that point, trundled onto VHS with all the invigoration of an afterthought. In short the high-speed hedgehog's classic heyday was coming to an end.

Yet things weren't all doom and gloom. For fans still yearning that new hedgey action, Archie Sonic continued to thrive among the mass of imported titles jostling for pole position on newsagent shelves. Quantities were plentiful and demand remained strong, even through a whole dollar price increase by year's end.

As the title boasts, life is built on firsts. Those unforgettable turning points destined to remain etched within our minds. Be them first kiss, first job, first concert or even first Star Wars action figure. When we grow old, the urge swells to reflect or even revisit those small, beautiful starting points. It's a feeling Archie certainly shared, with their appropriately first comic to reach Aussie shores that year: Sonic Firsts.

For a publisher who spent decades following the Mad Magazine bread-and-butter approach of constantly publishing past material, it’s surprising Archie took so long adding their best-selling title to the reprint rotisserie. Within its fancy 48 pages, Sonic Firsts offered a quartet of classic adventures invaluable to new readers while attempting to smooth out what eventually became continuity snares. Michael Gallagher and Scott Shaw! kicked things off with the eponymous Don't Cry For Me, Mobius, a fine starting point for the comic if ever there was one. Rabbot Deployment saw Shaw! superseded by Dave Manak and the introduction of Bunnie, who was granted something of a backstory when such things for anyone outside Sonic and Sally was rare. The pair returned for their flatulence flaunting The Lizard of Odd, an otherwise standard tale if not for Super Sonic's debut. Mike Kanterovich and Ken Penders brought it home with This Island Hedgehog, a straightforward misadventure which nobody could've guessed at the time just how important (or bloated, take your pick) a certain Rad Red's life story would become.

For some newsagents the switch to Sonic Super Special's permanently numbered quarterly format proved difficult to grasp. This issue was often solicited by retailers as Brave New World, raising more than a few eyebrows on parents who already forked out for that edition. It was unusual but ultimately humourous in hindsight when years later, the first eight issues of Sonic Universe were billed as Sonic X. But more on that another time.

The Special was a success for Archie. It showed there was a market for reprints among Sonic fans, even if it took several more years to truly milk its potential. Fans could fork out the standard price for their 48 page floppy, or if feeling a little more extravagant, shell out double the price for a comic book shop exclusive 'perfect-bound' edition. Touted by Archie as "Sonic's first ever Trade Paperback", the simultaneously released special boasted heavier cover stock and a minimally-formatted introduction by former editor/writer Paul Castiglia. If that wasn't enough, both versions were later reissued (either 1:1 perfect reprints or just unmoving warehouse stock, you be the judge.) to comic shops among a slew of 'back catalogue' miniseries and specials around late 2004. Marvellous.

In all, Sonic Firsts was a nifty if unintended celebration just in time and right on the mark for Archie Sonic’s 5th anniversary. The future was bright and the only way was up. Juuuuuust pay no heed to one of the Special's writers banging on about reprint royalties when this issue was announced. They certainly did. :P

Next Time: Take a flier to the comic's future as everyone's favourite embattled Echidna faces a deeply personal dilemma. A true clash for the ages which left both fans and editor reeling from its outcome. Will things ever be the same again? Will this description quit with the cheesy song references? Unlikely.

< Previous \ Index / Next >

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Archie Sonic #Sonic the Hedgehog Comics #Archie Comics #Comic Books #Michael Gallagher #Scott Shaw! #Dave Manak #Mike Kanterovich #Ken Penders #Paul Castiglia #Australia #1998 #Musings

[architectuul]

Helen Thomas: Architecture In Islamic Countries

Selections from the Catalogue for the Second International Exhibition of Architecture Venice 1982/83, edited by Helen Thomas.

If you are familiar with this website, you might remember an extensive survey of the Venice Biennale of Architecture - Cold Cases where no less than fourteen authors went back to the history of the institution and shared their experiences and actual thoughts.

Exhibitions are a strange thing: they exist for a few weeks or months, then get dismantled and disappear forever. What is left are the publications, reviews in magazines or the Internet, and recollections in the mind of visitors. But catalogues get out of print, Internet pages are closing and memories vanish or get embellished. Therefore, when we discuss an exhibition, we often comment on a few black and white photos (especially before the rise of digital imagery) and texts found in libraries. Luckily, some academics dedicate their efforts to extensive research and give us a possibility to approach the concepts, questions, and debates that filled an exhibition. Following that principle, the book Architecture in Islamic Countries is a chance to discover the second Architecture Venice Biennial and to examine the early 1980s discourse.

The volume offers a reprint of three original essays by Paolo Portoghesi, Mehdi Kowsar and Udo Kultermann published in Italian for the catalogue of 1983 and translated here into English for the first time. Helen Thomas, Esra Akcan, Aslı Çiçek and Véronique Patteuw delve into those historical texts and documents to examine their relevance today. Obviously, postmodernity is a dispute that has lasted and might seem behind us, while its aftermath – regionalism – has left disgusting marks in cities all over the world. But colonialism and post-colonialism are words that find resonance in many actual debates, and this edition of the Venice Biennial was loaded with those concepts. That second edition of the Biennial, in opposition to the first one, it was not about the restoration of ornaments, the (bad) taste or the return of fun into modernity. It was about a world that slowly gets globalised and a search for cultural roots in architecture. That makes this book a great reading, as the original texts are commented with a critical eye, commenting on the ideological and political positions of the actors from the biennale. (Akcan, for example, beautifully brings back the ‘fight’ that Bruno Zevi initiated in the press towards the biennial and its ideas…)

But what do we really learn here? That an exhibition that was not so well received at her time can become highly relevant 40 years later. Those questions that were (a bit) naively asked in the 1980s are still looking for an answer. That discussing the role of pure geometry in architecture (in an era of 3D nurbs and impossible shapes) could be something new. Last but not least, we realise that history is not written once and  forever, and that we can always look at events, exhibitions or buildings from the past with a fresh eye. 

-

Thibaut de Ruyter

Architecture in Islamic Countries; Selections from the Catalogue for the Second International Exhibition of Architecture Venice 1982/83, Edited by Helen Thomas; gta Verlag - source material, 2022

#books #book review #islamic architecture #architecture #venice biennale #vab #cold cases

[millingroundireland]

Reprinting Charles Frederic Goss's biography of Robert Byron Mills I

Colorized image from the original in Goss's book. Goss provides a clearer photograph of RBM I, much better than the faded one of himself, Hattie, William Norwood Hirst and Mabel Dunn, which was likely taken sometime after 1921, when RBM II married Miriam. Due to its presence in the book, this photo, likely taken for the book, can be said to be circa 1912. It was also likely taken within Hotel Sterling. Then again, it could be within a photo studio of some sort. This photo was taken one year before he would hit a man named John Weaver over the head with a shovel, as reported by the Cincinnati Post on July 18, 1913, after the man reportedly lunged at him with a knife. He was, for this, taken in by the police for the charge of murder, for which he plead self-defense, and was released on a $5,000 bond.

In past posts, we have mentioned Reverend Charles Frederic Goss as writing a biography of Robert Byron Mills I (RBM I) "with all the dates off by at least two years," with Goss noting that RBM I's father, John was a “miller by trade." Goss also said, as summarized on this blog, that RBM I "started as a youth on the Mills family farm, then became a butcher, and finally a hotel steward" and that by "1899, as Goss writes, RBM I had moved to Cincinnati." We already know from the Cincinnati Morning Tribune that RBM I was connected with W.G. Leland from 1880-1895, serving in a position of authority at New York's Grand Hotel, and becoming an associate manager of the Burnet House in 1900, while serving as the head of the Sterling hotel in Cincinnati. Goss was an author and clergyman whom was a New York native whom lived in Cincinnati by 1900, and writing a four volume set which told the history of Cincinnati.

This biography is reprinted from volume 4 of his four-volume set, Cincinnati, the Queen City, 1788-1912, pages 442 to 443, and is titled "Robert B. Mills."

This post was originally published on WordPress in August 2018.

Some changes in dates (to their correct dates are in brackets:

Hotel Sterling is one of Cincinnati's famous old hostelries and Robert B. Mills, proprietor of the house, may truly be designated as one of the popular and capable hotel managers of the city. He has been identified with the hotel business for more than a quarter of a century and, being a man of genial and kindly disposition, he has made many friends, who regard him with unqualified respect. He is a native of New York state, born at Lake George, on the 20th of April, 1864 [1862], a son of John R. and Margaret (Bibby) Mills. The father was a miller by trade and engaged in his business for a number of years at Minerva, New York. He died in 1874 [1876], when his son Robert was ten [14] years old. In the public schools of his native state Robert B. Mills secured his preliminary education. He passed his boyhood and youth upon a farm and as he approached maturity applied himself to the butcher's trade, in which he became proficient. When he was about twenty-one years of age [1883] he secured employment at Hotel Bennett, Binghamton, New York, as steward, a position which he held for ten years [until 1893]. He then accepted a similar position with the Grand Hotel, Thirty-first and Broadway, New York, and was with that well known house for five years [until 1898?]. He gained many experiences in the metropolis which proved of great value when he assumed larger responsibilities. In 1899 he came to Cincinnati as manager of Hotel Sterling and since 1906 has been proprietor of the house. As he possesses qualities of a "natural born" hotel keeper, he has succeeded admirably in his business and now enjoys a very extensive acquaintance among the traveling public. He has made good use of his opportunities and possesses a competency, which he has acquired by many years of close application to his chosen calling. On November 20, 1894, Mr. Mills was married to Miss Hattie E. Stanley, of Binghamton, and to them one son, Stanley Sterling, has been born [in 1901]. They also have an adopted son, Bert [son of Dora Mills and Cyrus Packard]. Mr. Mills has from his boyhood been actuated by a laudable ambition to win an honorable place in life and he has never sought to advance his own interests at the injury of others. In matters of citizenship he is loyal to his state and country and in business he is recognized as entirely straightforward and reliable, being at all times in the truest and best sense of the term a gentleman. He has many friends among hotel men of Ohio and neighboring states and is an active member of the Ohio State Hotel Men's Association. He has made a special study of Freemasonry, whose principles of fellowship early attracted his interest, and is a member of Binghamton Lodge, A. F. & A. M. ; Binghamton Chapter, R. A. M. ; Malta Commandery, K. T., of Binghamton, New York; and Syrian Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Cincinnati. In the course of an active and useful life he has gained an established reputation for the honorable discharge of every responsibility, which is of more value in the final summing up than great riches acquired through questionable methods.

© 2018-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

#biography #shovel #mills family #goss #charles frederic goss #ohio #20th century #church #religion #new york state #binghamton #bibby family #bibby #mills #ancestry #genealogy #family history #wordpress #hotels #hotel management

[kaoarika]

I dunno what it is, but I feel weird buying manga again this past month.

On one side, it’s mostly my fault because many series I was buying in 2016-ish, 2017 I simply couldn’t continue in doing so because my options of where to buy them that were close to my home started to disappear one by one (two places I frequented closed down before the pandemic, the newspaper & magazine store down the plaza stopped ordering manga) and while you could say that “well, you could go to this other place -a record store that has been embracing “everything-goes” as time has been passing by- or even go downtown, heck, online is an option, too?” it has been like, no, you don’t get my point.

(to be fair, I also started buying imported magazines and some merch due to certain franchises, hence why I had to sacrifice one to the other... I kinda want to say that I simply stopped doing so during the whole pandemic-high period, but then, the last year happened... lol)

The downsides of this is... precisely a huge wreck that the pandemic did with the whole paper business getting expensive, too. I wish Panini did more reprints of these series, because my god, they are getting hard to get by. I would understand 8~ year old series (Ouran, Fullmetal Alchemist).. in a way. But newer series’ volumes (say, Wotakoi, Erased, or MP100, all of them starting in 2019) are also becoming hard to obtain if you don’t look enough?  or “you must have gotten these when you had the time to do so when they were released, so it sucks to be you *shrugs*” And that’s freaking annoying. Their online shop is not helping much, lol.

Digital here is still not exactly an option either with them (not saying it’s the better one, considering what happened with all the mess of Comixology and Amazon, and I’m not quite sure if Bookwalker is easilly accessible in some way or form here. Kinda wishing it was, even if I still prefer the physical books... but space becomes a problem and I still don’t have better bookshelves to hold them (I did unexpectedly receive a shelf for CDs, so I moved everything similar sized media -my music and CD collection, my games, and the few NA ENG manga volumes I own- there, so, I do have more space from my old desk bookshelf, but... you know.

On one hand, I’m glad I just finished two series that I had on stand by for years, even if one of them has one of their volumes incredibly OOP EVERYWHERE (meaning, it’s the only one I still don’t have, lmao)... on the other, not so glad that I have to reccur to options on how to complete the others (there’s a box that contains every single volume of a series I was just buying before everything fell apart, even if I just... bought two volumes of it... should I resell these if I go for the box?... although it’s not a cheap expense, tbh *insert melting emoji here).

...but I still can’t believe I spent around 1000 pesos in the whole month alone just for these. Sure, too many volumes (around 7?) and this is all making me wish I was more cautious and did everything that was up on my hands back in the day and, maybe, I shouldn’t be feel kinda shitty right now (it’s not exactly related, but it is kinda co-related).

#kao's nonsenses

[yyh4ever]

Hiei and Yukina have different mothers (?)

Togashi's blunder? Yes it is, and it has been corrected in newer editions of the manga!

In this scene, from episode 26 of the anime, Hiei tells Yusuke that he and Yukina had different mothers.

Source: Yu Yu Hakusho Episode 26 ~ "Invitees To The Dark Tournament" (1992). Rescue Yukina Arc.

But then, when the "Demon World Tournament Saga" begins, we find out that Hiei and Yukina are actually twins, and they have the same mother: Hina. How's that even possible!?

This wasn't a blunder from the animation staff, as this line was taken directly from the manga series, chapter 51.

Source: Mangadex. This english translation is not a very good one, but the part about the mother is correct.

When episode 26 was aired on TV in 1992, the manga hadn't reached the Makai edition yet. The last saga began to be published in Weekly Shounen Jump magazine in 1994.

But, when the kanzenban, bunkoban and jump remix editions of the manga began to be published in the 2000s, this line about the "different mother" has been completely erased.

Source: Chapter 51. "I Must Get Stronger!!". Tankoubon, volume 6 (1992) VS Jump Remix edition, volume 3 (2022). The SJR photo was shared by @naitemokawaii4.

Well, Togashi said in the Yoshirin de Pon! interview (1994) that he had asked the editorial departmental to finish Yu Yu Hakusho after Sensui's fight. He was obviously very tired, physically and mentally. I think that when he drew the Makai Saga in 1994, he had entirely forgotten about this "different mother" thing from the Rescue Yukina Arc, published in Weekly Shounen Jump in 1991.

However, it's surprising that even his editor didn't notice the error. A lot of mistakes are edited or corrected from the magazine to the comic books, but in this case, the error went unnoticed by everyone. An example is the obscene trees of the Demon World, edited in the comic book, check out the post about Shinobu Sensui Death Scene (Uncensored Version).

Anyway, it was corrected afterwards, and if the anime gets a remake one day, Hiei's speech will probably be cut. Despite the correction, I've always loved the theories about this issue. My favorite is that Hiei was lying to Yusuke to cut the conversation short.

Foreign Editions:

I was checking the chinese editions, and this error was corrected in the kanzenban:

Source: Chapter 51. Tankoubon, volume 6 VS kanzenban, volume 5. Hong Kong chinese edition.

So, be sure to check if your local editor corrected it. Many countries have been reprinting the manga in new versions. In France, the 12-volume bunkoban has been released under the name of "Star Edition", by Editions Kana. Other countries like Mexico, Spain and Italy have published the 15-volume kanzenban. Sometimes, the editors just copy and past the old translations from the tankoubon to the newer versions, without revising them.

Other minor errors have been corrected in japanese reprints, but most of them are just chinese characters misspellings. For example, in one of the pages of volume 3 (tankoubon), Kurama's name is written with a different kanji. But, that kind of misprint is not noticeable when translated to other languages.

The Hiei's janken mistake was also very famous in Japan, but this one got an apology from Togashi himself in WSJ magazine.

#hiei #yukina #hina #hiei and yukina have different mothers? #yyh manga #togashi yoshihiro #bunkoban #kanzenban #shueisha jump remix #yu yu hakusho

[historyhermann]

I'm in Love with the Villainess Spoiler-Filled Review [Part 2]

Continued from Part 1 (which was published yesterday)

Typically, Claire tries to deny her feelings, after making this declaration. Rae and everyone one refuse to believe it. This surprises Rae. She doesn't want to let Claire go. In a post-credits scene, Manaria departs for Sousse. Rae believes that Manaria wanted Rae and Claire to begin a romantic relationship from the start. Many of Claire's friends (like Misha, Loretta, and Pipi) and the Princes, wish Claire the best. They root for her and Rae to marry. Claire likes this idea, saying that Rae would be her bride, before attempting to take it back. Later in the manga, both characters marry. Hopefully, that would be animated if this series is renewed. NOTE: This includes spoilers for the anime AND the manga, so if you don't want to see those, then please turn away and don't read past this paragraph.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the sixty-first article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on December 30, 2023.

In another powerful scene in Watashi, Rae refuses to reveal who she is to Manaria. She says, in an inner monologue, that she is doing all of this to prevent a future tragedy. She shakes Manaria's hand and agrees to take care of Claire. They are some other nice moments. Rae teases Claire. She blushes like nobody's business, since she is having fun with Rae teasing her. The series ends happily for them and was crafted to give them a "happy ever after." However, as Steven Universe told Spinel in the 2019 film (which has conflicting messages on happy endings), "there's no such thing as happily ever after. I'll always have more work to do." The RWBY Volume 8 theme declared, "Happy Ever Never After Again." Both are applicable here.

A possible second season could involve new twists, like Rae's plan, which echoes Mia Tearmoon's efforts in Tearmoon Empire, to avoid Claire's execution (her "downfall ending" as one Q&A puts it). Characters like Lilly Lilium may appear. Storylines which accurately portray sexuality would continue. The latter isn't surprising. The manga's author, Inori, is a lesbian (is possibly trans) and is influenced by various yuri works. She has another recently published yuri novel. It's entitled The Girl Who Wants to Become a Hero <me> and the Girlfriend Who Should Become a Hero <you>. It's not known when an English translation will be available.

I'd love to see some trans characters and perhaps even have some Claire-centered episodes. After all, there are light novel series entitled I'm in Love with the Villainess: She's so Cheeky for a Commoner, from Claire's perspective, and "Claire's Diary" which some fans happily translated. Other fans have even translated all the opening and ending sequences, TV spots, promotional content, Q&A, and more. Even though I highly doubt there would be any criticism of marriage as an institution. Nothing in a future season would echo Young Love. On the other hand, this series is more positive on lesbian romance than others. This is no shock. Rae, throughout the manga, has four women interested in her: Claire, Manaria, Lilly, and Lana Lahna! At one point, Claire even calls Rae a "womanizer" as a result, which surprises her.

I'd love to see some trans characters and have some Claire-centered episodes. After all, there are light novel series entitled I'm in Love with the Villainess: She's so Cheeky for a Commoner, from Claire's perspective, and "Claire's Diary" which some fans happily translated. Other fans have even translated all the opening and ending sequences, TV spots, promotional content, Q&A, and more. I highly doubt there would be any criticism of marriage as an institution. Nothing in a future season would, probably, echo Young Love. On the other hand, this series is more positive on lesbian romance than others. This is no shock. Rae, throughout the manga, has four women interested in her: Claire, Manaria, Lilly, and Lana Lahna! At one point, Claire even calls Rae a "womanizer" as a result, which surprises her.

Unlike some other anime, the subbed and dubbed versions aired simultaneously. Surely, the Japanese voice actors, including Yu Serizawa and Karin Nanami for Rae and Claire, and Nana Mizuki for Manaria, did an excellent job. Serizawa voiced Mutsu in Love Live! Sunshine!!. Mizuki voiced Airi Amano in D4DJ First Mix and Riko's mother in Love Live! Sunshine!! The same can be said for Princes Rod, Thane, and Yue. They are voiced by Ken'ichirō Ōhashi (also known as Kenn), Daisuke Namikawa, and Yoko Hikasa. All three are talented voice actors. The same is the case for Aimi Terakawa, Ikumi Hasegawa, Sara Matsumoto, Minami Kurisaka. They voice Misha, Lene, Loretta and Pipi respectfully.

Aimi is known as Kasumi Toyama in the BanG Dream franchise and Kyoko Yamate in D4DJ. Hasegawa voiced Sorane Matsuyama in If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die, Desumi Magahara in Love After World Domination, Koito in My Master Has No Tail, Ikuyo Kita in Bocchi the Rock!, Kotoko Nogisaka in Ippon Again!, and Shizuka in World Dai Star. Matsumoto voiced golf mafia boss Charlotte in Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story as well.

English dub voice actors, like Hannah Alyea, Lindsey Sheppard, Corey Wilder, Oscar Seung, Ciarán Strange, Marisa Duran, Kara Edwards, Erin Nicole Lundquist, Abigail Blythe, and Katelyn Barr, are talented too. Alyea, a non-binary actor, who voices Rae, did the dubbed voice for Aoi Inuyama in Laid-Back Camp and for Lumi and the Great Big Galaxy, an indie animation. Sheppard, who voices Claire, is known, in part, for voicing Saphron Cotta-Arc in RWBY, Amy Sibble in Wild Card: The Show, and Kaede in Sasaki and Miyano. Like Alyea, Duran, who voices Misha, is also non-binary, and of Spanish descent. She's voiced a variety of roles. Wilder, who voices Rod, is a non-binary Black man, voiced a wide array of characters.

This also the case for Seung and Edwards. They voice Thane and Lene. Strange is a talented trans non-binary man. Lundquist is Latina, queer, and "military veteran voice actor." Blythe describes herself as a "demi lesbian." She said that voicing Pipi is a "dream come true," noting she'd been a fan of the manga, and was overjoyed to voice "a sapphic character in a sapphic anime." Barr is a seasoned voice actress known for roles such as Hina Hikawa in BanG Dream! and Chiaki in Laid-Back Camp.

While I have criticisms of Watashi, it remains the stand-out series of 2023, with amazing music, and is fun, goofy, serious, deep, and very queer at the same time. Avid viewers and fans may encourage Ichijinsha (the publisher of the light novel and manga) for a second season, per Erica Friedman's suggestion on her site. This series comes when there are many yuri series in 2024. This includes possibly yurish Pon no Michi and Metallic Rouge in January. By April, others with yuri themes will include Nijiyon Animation season 2, Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night, Laid-Back Camp season 3, and Whisper Me a Love Song.

I'm in Love with the Villainess is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

#i'm in love with the villainess #iltv #watashi #wataoshi #voice actors #yuri #lgbtq #marriage #Lilly Lilium #claire francois #rae taylor #inori #she's so cheeky for a commoner #happy ending #animation #reviews #manaria sousse

[thankskenpenders]

You're likely sick of Penders asks, and rightly so, but evidently Screenrant just did an interview with him...

Oh my fucking god. He did it. The crazy son of a bitch actually did it. The Screen Rant guy did an interview with Penders... specifically to try and help him build hype for The Lara-Su Chronicles and his e-reader app

Like, there are many interesting things you could do an interview with him about, because there are SO many interesting behind-the-scenes stories from Archie Sonic. But this is just a puff piece giving him softball questions so he can hype up TLSC, juxtaposed with his offputting art. I can't believe this

It's worth reading if you've been following the tumultuous development of this project over the last decade just to see where Ken's head is at right now, but two pertinent bits of news are:

"The Lara-Su Chronicles: Beginnings" (AKA the Mobius: 25 Years Later reprint book with the names changed) is now due out in time for Comic-Con next year

Robo-Robotnik is going to be in TLSC. I cannot WAIT to see what happens there. How is he going to work around this?

Ken also talks about how he now sees the first volume of TLSC as probably being his last big solo comic project. If not this, then possibly of The Lost Ones, which he still wants to do something with. (Yes, he still kind wants to make The Lost Ones into a movie.) But he's now saying that volumes two through seven of The Lara-Su Chronicles will probably have to be drawn by other artists. I guess I'm glad that he's being slightly more realistic, and that he understands that it's taken him over a decade to get the first book done alone. But still. When he talks about the prospect of his son and grandchildren continuing the saga for him past the ending of TLSC book seven, it just fills me with this incredibly deep existential dread. Like, I hate speculating about the guy's personal life. That's crossing a line. It sounds like his family is supportive of his creative endeavors, and that's great! But there is just something so profoundly sad about seeing a man dedicating his retirement years to this huge project that's doomed to fail and chewing out his former peers who've moved on with their careers

#anon #ask #tkp asks

[skepticaloccultist]

Equinox Updates from Eldred Wormwood

It is with great difficulty that I make this post. I had intended to take a year's sabbatical from posting here on Skeptical Occultist as the past year has been rather an imposing figure on my health and life. But the situation is such that I must clarify what has been happening in my absence.

In late 2020, having anticipated the events of Brexit making things complicated with my then recent retirement from London to a small village in Portugal, I placed a flurry of printing orders with my longstanding UK printer. The printer was unfortunately beset with staff issues related to the ongoing Covid plague but promised to get things printed and off before the end of the year.

The printings did get done, but the timing wasn't good enough. Having departed the UK they got stuck in a purgatory of shipping created by the closing of borders to all ground shipments and thus were held too long to make it to Portugal before the deadline of Brexit.

At that point, sometime in early 2021, the shipments went missing. According to our shipper they were all in the hands of Portuguese customs, although for many months customs claimed they did not have them. After a Kafkaesque mountain of paperwork, confusing phone calls and emails, we were informed that customs did in fact have the boxes of books and were "processing" them. We were told we would receive letters stating the import taxes due and that with those letters we could claim our shipments.

Those letters never arrived. Months of arguing with customs officials began to affect my health, and while I won't go into the details I have been considerably overwhelmed with the situation as it has unfolded this past year.

Finally I hired a Portuguese lawyer who, after making some inquires herself, declared that a lengthy legal battle would cost much more than the cost of reprinting the volumes. It seems that courts in Portugal take many years to deal with even simple legal matters.

I retired to Portugal out of a love for the landscape that had developed over my years of field research here. Knowing that my pension would not sustain me in London, my partner and I decided that a small Portuguese village we now call home would suit us well in our age. We do love it here, but the postal and customs systems of this country are a crime racket on par with the mob.

I am not in a place where I have the financial means to cover these losses and have been in a mental funk for months trying to find a way to sort out things as the letters from our readers continue to politely inquire what has happened. We owe a huge thanks and appreciation for the patience of our readers over this past year.

A friend who helps us in design and publishing has suggested that we try to crowd source the funding to get Alkahest Press back on track. They have set up a Go Fund Me page where those who have the means and wish to help us get through this difficult impasse can donate. We are extremely sorry for the delays and want nothing more than to know our volumes are in the hands of the readers who have ordered them.

If you are inclined to help please visit the fundraising page. Any amount of help is much appreciated by this grumpy old wizard.

-Eldred

  Visit the Gofundme page at - http://gofundme.com/f/help-eldred-wormwood-alkahest-press

#skeptical occultist #occult #occult books #folkwitch #witch #witchcraft #cunning craft #henbane #belladonna #lucifer #alkahest press #alchemy #necromancy #sorcery #magic #ritual magic #hedgewitch #poisoners path