#can you tell that my favorite comic of them is the spooktacular one | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

maximeloonatic · 5 years

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Top 10 of Who I want to appear in Scooby Doo and Guess Who

This new show of Scooby Doo it’s getting pretty good, and I love the guest stars at the moment. From celebrities (Pen and Tell) to fictional characters(Sherlock Holmes), ths makes this show amazing. It’s most positive to get a new season, so why not discuss who we would like to have in this show?

(You’re welcome yo add your Top 10 of star guess for this show)

10. The Golden Girls

Altho we know the original and wonderfull actresses won’t be able to share their voices, returning as their roles in the tv show, I do feel it would be hilarious to have this gang of old ladies joining the mystery gang. Blanche would be very flirsty with Fred while Dorothy points out that he could be his grandson. Rose, naive and innocent would be the compleatly clueless and dog lover. And I’ll die to have Sophia say her famous quote “Picture it: Sicily 19538ish)”

9. The Mask/Stanley Ipkiss

We are having the 90s comedi icon Steve Urkel back so why not another icon of black comedy. The Mask was one of my favorites for being so crazy, bonkers and unpredictable (the comic it’s way different tho). And I think the Mask himself could the main antagonist of the episode, and in the reveal could be Stanley (or not). I think it would be a great move to have this character back and redeem his image after what some movie producers has done to him (watch The Mask 2 to stand my point)

8.Anthony Anderson/Andre Dre Johnson from Blackish

I’m getting grow with this man and his character of the show. I’ts strong, confident, he knows what he wants, but when he reacts of goes crazy mad it’s just... WOW!! His screams fits greatly with Scooby and Shaggy.

7. Gordon Ramsey

Now this is a guest that Shaggy and Scooby would be delighted! One of the greatest cook, host of MasterChef and excellent food critict, but with the temper and the bittersweet personality that you don’t know if to hate him or to love him. If he DO appear, I’m begging to have him doing the sanwich talk to the antagonist; IT’S A MUST!!!

6.The Marx Brothers

Wasn’t born in the years of the black and white movies but I do enjoy them specially the comedies: that’s were I loved the Marx Brothers. Groucho, Harpo and Chico coud be involved to a time machime mystery or a hollywood thingy; any way I want to the two gang meet. Groucho’s sassy and flirty comedy (toward Daphne and Velma), Chico’s idiotic but sweet fun personality, and Harpo’s unpredictable way to crack us up it’s this kind of comedy that we need the new generation acknowleges this golden comedy.

5.Fran Drescher

Remember the Nanny? Have you seen Happily Divorced? This woman nailed both shows with her charm and comedic style. I love specially her voice, it’s just perfect for a cartoon character!! (And her cartoon character of The Nanny intro doesn’t count)

4.Dick Dastardly and Muttey

We already had The Funky Phantom introduced in the second episode, an Hanna Barbera tv series that was perfectly mixxed up with the Scooby Gang, so why not more characters from the same studios? Dick Dastardly and Muttey are a pair of malicious troublemakers that already starred three tv cartoon series as main antagonist. Remember the Wacky Races and The Flying Machines) I do want the gang meet this villian pair; maybe because they were framed of they are the main ghost or monster. I do think it would be interested to see Scooby with Muttey; Scoob would go to anything for a scooby snak, why the sneaky mutt for a medal.

3.Casper the Friendly Ghost

With the Funky Phantom prooving that it’s possible to have REAL ghosts in this series, Casper it’s a must to be in! I loved this friendly ghost since the movie, and the tv show after this I ADORE IT! Don’t get me wrong, the first cartoon was adorable too, but the Spooktacular adventures were more comedic and more involve with Casper going far to be a goodie two shoes ghost. I do see the gang freaking out by this small ghost A LOT, but I can see clearly Velma don’t beliveing that Casper was actually a ghost, so they would help each other to solve the mystery. Seriously, I think Casper needs to get back in the 90s spirit way; never l liked his last tv show.

2.Will Smith/The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

I confess, I love Will Smith because of this show. And who doesn’t? This Will it’s all comedy and being bold and creative; this is material of Scooby and Shaggy’s classic scenes to fool them to get away. Of course flirting the girls it’s a must, and yes I also include Velma... (She’s still cute and valid, try to change my mind) But I think the best part it’s his scream. Seriously, when he screams it’s all strong and comedic; I specially love the MAMA NOOOO! I heard that’s not possible to have the show returning, so we can at least have this Will Smith cartoonized.

1.The Ghostbusters

I loved the cartoons, the movies (including the new one)... I just think this would be great to add in the Scooby Doo show!! It’s a MUST!! Of course the main characters should to look like in the cartoons for sure. Of course, we’ll have Velma insisting that ghosts aren’t real and maybe she’ll point out the Ghostbusters to being a fraud, which Peter Venkman would pick on her with his charm. Egon would be genious contrast of Velma too. Winston would be more relaxed, I think... And Ray Stanz it’s like a magnet of weir events and accidents, can you imagine him with Scoob and Shaggy?! Hilarious!

Of course the villian get unmasked... But what if there was another thing involved and the Ghost busters take care of it at the end of the episode??+wink wink*

P.S.: Bill Murray voicing Peter, it’s also a must to happen!

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joyofcrime-elinorhigh · 5 years

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Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular REVIEW:

Hello there, everybody. My name is JoyofCrimeArt and Halloween is right around the corner. Enjoy it while you can because the minute Halloween is over you know that big business and mass media are going to start bombarding us with Christmas music and advertisements twenty four seven, (assuming they even wait that long.) But regardless of that THIS time of year is celebrated with candy, pumpkin spiced everything, and of course Halloween specials. You got your Charlie Brown's and your Over the Garden Wall's and such, but if you ever watched Cartoon Network during the month of October during the early to mid two thousands their is one special you must of at least glimpsed at least once. That special is Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular!.......Ah, I see what you did there, it's a pun on... yeah, well played special.

In case you don't know Scary Godmother is an animated CGI Halloween TV special created by Rainmaker Entertainment in 2004. It is based on the children's book and comic series of the same name created by Jill Thompson. This special was a staple of Halloween on Cartoon network for many years and even got a sequel entitled "Scary Godmother: Jimmy's Revenge" the following year. Now is this special any good. Ehhh-Ye-No....Sorta? Let's talk about it. The first thing you'll notice about this film is it's animation. It's...not the best looking by today's standards for sure. CGI from this era is definitely dated by this point, but it's hard to blame the special for it's animation given that it was only 2004. Plus the special does offer up it's own sort of style in many respects. The character designs on the humans aren't very good, as a lot of the time they do just looked like pallet swapped versions of the same model, but the designs of the actual monsters later in the special are really creative looking, just like in the books. Plus they do this neat thing where a lot of the backgrounds will be hand drawn illustrations and certain props will have a cool "pop-up book" element to them. So yeah, the animation is pretty dated, but I'm glad that they did something to make it have it's own unique look. So I can forgive it for the most part. The special opens up on Halloween night as we see three kids, Daryl, Bert, and Katie dressed in Halloween garb outside of the haunted "Spookhouse." Katie is dressed up as a cat, which is sensible enough, but Daryl is dressed up as a piece of candy, Bert is a baseball driver in his SUV. It's dumb and cheesy but in a charming and kinda amusing kind of way. Anyway, then we Jimmy appear on top on a tombstone dressed in his devil pajamas, but he is quickly knocked off of the stone be the light from a flashlight held by his younger cousin, Hannah, our main protagonist for the story. Now here is where things start to get a bit odd. Jimmy asks why Hannah is flashing the flashlight around, and then the three other kids jump in calling for a "flashback." Now some fourth wall humor isn't the weird thing, but what's weird is the fact that we don't actually get any real "flashback." instead we get a scene of the characters reenacting a scene where Hannah's parents give Hannah the flashlight with Daryl and Katie playing the part of Hannah's parents. But the thing is, 1.) Jimmy and Hannah clearly came to the Spookhouse separately from the other three kids because they show up afterwards, so there's no way that Katie and Daryl could of known the specifics of how Hannah got the flashlight. 2.) Jimmy was in the flashback, picking Hannah up before going trick-or-treating! So how was he confused by Hannah's flashlight? He saw Hannah's parents give the flashlight to Hannah! I mean I suppose he might not have been paying much attention to what Hannah was doing since Jimmy wasn't in the exact shot where Hannah's Dad (played by Daryl.) gave Hannah the flashlight, but still! Also then there's like this wipe, where Hannah comments that that was close to how it all went down. With, Bert even being annoyed he didn't have a role in the flashback, so I'm not even sure if that scene even happened at all! It's hard to explain but it's a really bizarre scene. Point is, Hannah's dad gave Hannah the flashlight, saying that light from a flashlight could scare away monsters. Anyway, while Hannah is off flashing her flashlight around Jimmy talks to his friends. Jimmy comes with the idea to trick Hannah into enetering the old Spookhouse. That way Hannah would run home scared and they could trick-or-treat without her, since there "big kids" and she isn't. The other three are against it at first but end up being tempted into evil by the silly devil hoodie clad little boy. So they tell Hannah that there is a monster in the Spookhouse, and every Halloween the new kid must go inside and give the monster a piece of candy or else the monster will come out and eat every kid in the world. So Hannah goes into the house, and is tricked into thinking the house is full of monster due to Jimmy's amazing work at creating hand shadows.

I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE OR HOW GOOD YOU ARE, HANDS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY! Anyway the big kids run outside the house leaving Hannah in, holding down the door knob so she can't run away. Even though the whole plan was to make her run away. They just want to traumatized the kid a little more. Y'know, for the lol's and such. Anyway Hannah starts crying until suddenly her Scary Godmother appears! Hannah is at first to sad to even notice this, but eventually Scary Godmother is able to get her attention. Now you may be wondering what is a Scary Godmother, and the answer to that is obvious! It's..um...I guess there like Fairy Godparent's but...spoopier? Or something? I dunno, it's not really touched upon much. All that matter's is that Scary Godmother is going to kidnap-I mean-invites Hannah to her home on the "Fright Side" for her Halloween party, so she can introduce Hannah to all of her monster friends in order to help her get over her fear of monsters. We get this weird scene where Scary Godmother has Hannah get on her broom and they fly up the chimney and into the sky to get to the Fright Side. They fly through this weird cloud monsters mouth and then end up there, but what I don't get is if Hannah flew up the chimney how come none of the big kids saw her? Also later in the film they don't seem to need to fly back in order to get back into the Spookhouse. I figured that the Fright Side was tied to the Spookhouse but they seem to be flying away from the house in order to get there. WHAT ARE THE RULES HERE! NO, YOU'RE OVER THINKING THIS! Anywho they end up in Scary Godmother's house located on in the Fright Side. I like the design of the house, it oozes Halloween and the pop up book aesthetic really shines here. Scary Godmother begins introducing Hannah to all of her friends. Starting with her "Broommate." (Yeah, I hope you like puns, cause you're going to be getting a lot before this 44 minute film is over.) Mr. Pettibones, a Skeleton who lives in peoples closets. Much like Pearl from Steven Universe his main personality trait...is being really gay. *OH MY GOD, IT WAS A JOKE, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME STEVEN UNIVERSE FANS* I swear as a kid I never got the joke that he was suppose to be a skeleton "in the closet." but it's actually kinda clever looking back on it now. And all joking aside he's not a bad character. He does act as the sassy gay best friend to Scary Godmother but he is a funny character who has a role in the story. He's the one setting up most of the party. Mr. Pettibones also explains more to Hannah that not all monsters are bad. We then cut back to Deryl, Bert, Katie and Jimmy waiting outside of the house waiting for Hannah to come out screaming, annoyed that it's taking so long and-OMG WHAT THE HECK!

We get a Black Hannah and what I think is just a literal clone of Katie, except she's in a bee costume. Who cares about this story, I want to know about the secret underground cloning lab that exists in this town! Anyway as I said the big kids are waiting for Hannah and Daryl and Katie are trading candy, because they decided to trick-or-treat a little before meeting up with the rest of the gang. Katie offers Deryl a piece of candy for "three kisses." And they go in to kiss before Bert interrupts them. I wonder where this romantic subplot will lead........ (It leads nowhere.) Back on the Fright Side it's time for Hannah to meet another one of Scary Godmother's monster friends. This time a werewolf (or is it wolf man?) named Harry. Harry is...pretty much the worse. He's dumb, arrogant, rude, and overall self absorbed, with food being the main thing on his mind as he mooches off all of his friends. And I'm not saying this as an insult to the film, because the film acknowledges it! Nobody in the film likes this guy! And to be fair he's not too annoying to the audience, as he seems far more annoying to the characters in the film, but still. It's weird why they even bother inviting this guy. Even when Harry isn't doing something wrong everyone at the party seems to have disdain for him, which in some ways makes me actually feel bad for him. But then he does something else selfish or annoying to make me feel less sympathy towards him, which I guess is good since the film isn't trying to make him sympathetic I guess? You'll see more as I go forward with the review, but yeah. Harry is THAT guy. The guy we all know, the friend that we don't like but we just got to put up with. Harry goes up to Hannah thinking that she is an actress in his favorite "Skelevision" show. (Ha Ha! The puns have returned!) I wonder where this subplot of Harry thinking Hannah is an actress will lead........ (It leads nowhere.) Though I do appreciate the film diverting from the cliche "Vampires vs Werewolves" rivalry, instead opting for a "Skeletons vs Werewolves" rivalry, which makes a lot more sense when you think about it. Though this rivalry probably has less with race and more with everyone hating Harry. So after that it's time for the next guest to arrive. We get the vampiric couple of Count Max, Ruby, and their son Orson. Wait a minute....Max....Ruby....

MY GOD! Scary Godmother invites the vampires in. (Because vampires can't enter a house uninvited.) and Hannah starts befriending Orson. It's a really cute scene and makes some great use of a rotating camera angles. Orson is also really fun with his awkward childishness contrasting the fact that he is a vampire. Hannah and Orson's friendship just feels like a genuine friendship in the way kids there age becomes friend. (Also it's a better love story then Twilight, am I right? Yuk Yuk Yuk?) Oh and there's also a pointless chase scene...moving on. Also throughout the film Harry keeps becoming incapacitated. First he get's peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth making him unable to talk earlier in the special, and then he get's hypnotized into a trance by Count Max. We then get our next guest, the monster named Bug-A-Boo. A giant multi-eyed fanged monster. I love his design due to it's uniqueness and while he's not actually scary looking to the audience, if you where to imagine this thing being in the real world it would be terrifying. And Hannah agrees with me as Bug-A-Boo is the monster that causes her to finally freak out. And can you blame her. One of his teeth is the SIZE OF HANNAH!

Also there's a genuinely funny bit with Hannah screaming, then Scary Godmother telling her to breath. She breaths and then starts screaming again. Good stuff. Anyway another chase scene begins and Hannah tries to shine the flashlight on Bug-A-Boo. Only to find out it doesn't have any effect. Scary Godmother lies to Hannah telling her that flashlights only work on monsters who live in the closet, not under the bed. Hannah says she wants Bug-A-Boo to leave and he begins to comply. This is when she see's that looks don't matter, and that Bug-A-Boo is actually nice. Though is he that nice? We learn that his job is to scare children by hiding under there beds, which is pretty much the same thing that the big kids do to Hannah, and their treated as the villains. Also do you think whatever company Bug-A-Boo works for is a rival company with Monsters Inc? With all of the guest arrived the monsters and Hannah begin their Halloween party. We cut back to the big kids and theirs a bizarrely funny bit with a Bert saying that his "Door is ajar." there's no logical reason I find it funny, but I do. Also that cut to the big kids lasted exactly 19 and a half seconds and only exists to do the "Door is ajar" bit. WORTH IT! Then we get a very brief dance sequence with the monsters and then cut BACK to the big kids. Because...why not? The night is ending and the big kids have, for all intensive purposes ended. Katie wants to go an rescue Hannah but Jimmy is insistent on waiting for her to come out of the house on her own. Jimmy you're plan isn't very good! You have your little cousin run into an old abandoned house that has a frickin' GRAVE YARD it it's front yard, and then spend like, hours, waiting for her to run out. Why not just go in there and see if she's scared? If she is she'll probably agree to have you take her home. I means she's must of been there for a while since all of the houses are turning there lights off, so if she wasn't scared before what would make you think that she's be scared now. What do you think she's been doing this whole time?! You wasted your whole Halloween on faulty logic! If you wanted to get more Trick-or-Treating done you should of just cut your loses and given up long before now! But no, you still hold on to this plan. What is she was attacked by a murderous clown or something!? Who knows what kind of non supernatural threats could be inside this creepy old house. Jimmy you are so stupid!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgxYUxqcg1Q

Ugh! So anyway Jimmy says that they should continue with his idiotic plan because he's the leader, and all of the big kids get into an argument on who the leader is. There's a bit decide to do a vote on who should be leader and they each get one vote each. Bert and Jimmy vote for themselves and Katie and Daryl vote for each other. (Which is a cute moment and the one of the only bits of continuation for their "romantic subplot.") Then if that wasn't pointless enough we get a scene of Bert demanding recounts and Daryl recounting the votes. Granted the scene is kinda funny, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't pointless. Back in the Fright Side we get more interactions between our colorful cast of characters, and we get to see a bit more of Hannah and Orson and also some interactions with Max and Ruby. We get to see Max is sort of introverted and behind the times. He wants to be, in his own words, "groovy." I like Count Max a lot because of this and most lines from him get a pretty good laugh out of me. He's kinda like a less silly version Count Dracula from the Hotel Transylvania series. Again, it's good stuff. So then it turned out that Harry, the Scumbag Steve of the monster world, has eaten all of the buffet. (Though in Harry's defense, before this scene none of the other monsters where letting him eat any of the buffet, which does seem a bit unfair. It further goes to show how odd it is that they even invited him if he wasn't even allowed to partake.) So now that there's no food left And thus Bug-A-Boo suggests that they should order pizza. And thus we begin the pizza sub plot! I call it the sub plot because the whole pizza scene takes up a total of four minutes (not counting the cut back to the big kids that occurs in the middle of said subplot.) and contributes almost nothing to the story! I know that four minutes does not sound like much, and it really isn't, but consider the fact that the special is only 44 minutes long. So that's an eleventh of your whole story! Keep that in mind. So we then get a scene where we learn that Bug-A-Boo and Hannah both like pizza with extra cheese and olives on it. Further cementing that fact that Bug-A-Boo is nice and doesn't eat little girls. Proving that no matter how different people look or act we can all bond over are love for pizza. World peace is truly a possibility here folks. So they have Harry order the pizza's because they clearly haven't learned there lesson by this point and he ordered twelve pizza's, and Scary Godmother doesn't have enough money to pay for it. There's a funny bit where the pizza delivery boy offers to give them the pizza's on the house is Scary Godmother gives him her soul, but she declines. Scary Godmother, Mr. Pettibones, and Hannah try to get some money by taking all the money that got stuck to Bug-A-Boo from being under the beds all day. Hooray for stealing money from your friends! (Which he accidentally stole from children!) Also the pizza's are said to cost about 200 dollars, and Hannah even mentions finding a 50 dollar bill. I know Bug-A-Boo goes under a lot of kids beds but how many kids who are young enough to be scared of monsters under the bed really have that much money under there beds. Even I've never seen a fifty dollar bill before, and I'm way older then those kids would be! So then Scary Godmother chastises Harry for buying to many pizza's, telling him that he's going to make it up to her by working for her until he makes up the money. This is actually a major plot point in the second special, if you can believe that. Also Harry doesn't get any of the pizza. Poor Harry. If only he wasn't so darn awful I wouldn't feel so conflicted in feeling bad for him! There's also a funny joke where Count Max recalls an old conversation he had. "-But other then that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the show!" It's funny because her husband was shot right in front of her...oh, now I've bummed myself out. Then Hannah tells the monsters why she's here, and gives Bug-A-Boo a piece of candy in exchange for not eating everyone in the world and that's when the monsters tell Hannah that she had been lied to by Jimmy. We also learn that Jimmy is one of the kids on Bug-A-Boo's route and that even big kids get scared. Then Scary Godmother comes up with a plan to get back at Jimmy. It's time to go Toy Story on those fools. Outside the Spookhouse the big kids finally decide to enter the house, even though by now they seem scared to enter it themselves, which would make a logical reason why they didn't go in to get Hannah by now, except they where in the Spookhouse earlier in the film when Jimmy was making his magical shadow puppets. They walk inside and see Orson, thinking he's just a kid in a costume. Orson get's mad that they don't think that he's a vampire and called out his parents form the closet, as Count Max and Ruby say that there going to eat the big kids. They run in fear from the actual vampires and end up coming across all the other monsters all threatening to eat the kids. Harry ends up actually trying to eat Daryl thinking that he's a actual piece of candy. So that's one potential human casualty that could of occurred as part of this plan. They then find Hannah and Hannah uses her flashlight to "defeat" the monsters, as every time she points the flashlight at one of the monsters they pretend to die. Scary Godmother even frickin' melts. The big kids end up running out of the house scared and Scary Godmother gives Hannah a magic key, telling her that if she ever wants to return to the Fright Side she can, and all that she would have to do is use that key on any door. Jimmy asks if Hannah wants to hold his hand for "her protection" and she agrees. The special ends on the valuable moral that "Revenge is great!" So in conclusion, is Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular any good, and is it worth watching? Ehhhhhh, I think it depends on who you are. This special, from a technical standpoint, isn't that great. There are a ton of flaws with it. The animation is dated, the special is overall pretty plotless, there is a ton of filler, and some of the choices made by the characters don't make to much sense. So if you want a special that is better on a more technical level, one with better story, animation, ect. then this special probably won't be your cup of cider. But if you have nostalgia for the special, or if you don't mind some cheesiness and just want a fun but kinda dumb special that will put you in the Halloween mood, you might end up enjoying it. I had more fun watching this special for this review then I expecting to be honest with you. So maybe consider checking it out sometime. What do you think of Scary Godmother? What do you think of the sequel (which I hope to review next Halloween, from what I remember it's one of the few sequels that is better than the first one, though that not that difficult considering this special.) Leave your thoughts in the comments down bellow, I love to hear what you guys think. Any suggestions for things I should review. Suggest them down bellow and maybe I'll do em' if I find them interesting enough. Please fav, follow, and comment if you like my review and have a great day and Happy Halloween! ...Oh, and did you know that Scary Godmother is played by Rarity from MLP:FIM? And Hannah is Princess Cadance? It's weird. (I do not own any of the images or videos in this review all credit goes to there original owners.)

#Scary Godmother #Cartoon Reviews #Halloween #2000's #Review

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davidmann95 · 7 years

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Have you read The Metropolitan Man? I don't know what's your policy on fanfiction but it's a "realistic" take on Superman arriving in the 30s.

Haven’t read that one - looking over it briefly it seems pretty damn depressing, though I suppose that’s kind of the point. I’ll probably check it out sometime.

I’m definitely down for fanfiction, but there’s precious little with Superman I’m into - when I occasionally think of Superman fanfic I hope “cool, maybe there’s finally some cool cosmic adventure stuff in here given the comics so rarely go there, or some really insightful character observations of the kind writers too sparsely touch on!” and then it ends up being 7000 pages on a powerless high-school aged Clark’s torrid affair with Jason Todd behind Congorilla’s back or something. But keeping my eyes open, there’ve definitely been some over the years that worked for me:

* Superboy: A great little moment of growth for a young Clark Kent in a short animated comic by @jordangibson.

* All In A Day’s Work: Good chance you saw this floating around on Tumblr awhile back, this is another really great little short comic by Tom Gimlin and Marcellis Wentz, on the weight of the job.

* Superman’s Story: Opposite Number: An excellent short piece by @spectralspices based on an idea he was nice enough to bounce off me, as Superman goes up against a pair of challenges unusual even for him - one comedic, one very much not.

* Pop-Drama: Superman: I don’t know how much this really qualifies as fanfic in the traditional sense - it’s a broad story proposal by @andrewhickeywriter on an ‘end point’ for Superman - but it’s damn fun and satisfying. There’s also a follow-up article where he elaborates on a major plot point.

* Superman Lives: Another short comic, this time by Joe Otis Costello and Des Taylor, where the Superman of 1938 is beamed in a fight with Brainiac into the world of 2014, and Lois Lane naturally gets the exclusive interview with the returned hero, the story being presented in magazine format. The characterizations may or may not work for you - parts do for me, others not - but it’s an interesting exercise nonetheless, and Des Taylor’s work is absolutely gorgeous.

* @ck1blogs: Clark Kent’s reasonably infamous Twitter account. He is not good at the internet, or humans.

* @filmcriticsuperman: Less well-known than its cousin ck1, which is a shame; unlike most “Film Critic X” feeds, it’s actually…well, really good, courtesy of @charlotteofoz. It maintains the voice throughout and perfectly, and while half the feed is indeed movie reviews - always through the filter of Superman - the other half is just Superman talking about his day, and while it was coming out it was probably the best ongoing Superman material of the last several years. If starting at the beginning of the feed to get a feel for it seems too ominous, worth it though it may be, a good sample would be the more traditional short story she did connected to it, a Superman Halloween spooktacular by the name of Yellowfire.

* Kosmograd Blues: A short story by The Quantum Thief and Invisible Planets author Hannu Rajaniemi focused on a Russian Superman analog, it’s a beautifully written, somber story of a superman who’s long since lost what made his own life worthwhile, but knows he still has a job to do. This was to be one part of a series of superhero short stories set in a larger world he had built - he wrote a little more about the details of it once - but to my knowledge this was all that ever came out of it.

* Kahlil: An ongoing webcomic by Kumail Rizvi in which the last son of Krypton landed in Karachi; it’s been awhile since I last checked in on it, but I recall it being very good, with some spectacular artwork making the few moments thus far of super-ness really pop.

* Superman vs. The Universe: A spiritual cousin to Joe Keatinge’s Strange Visitor, this is the story of an all-powerful Superman at the end of time looking back on his existence as he prepares for his last duty; the prose is stilted in places, but there are enough great ideas and emotional moments in here to make it more than worth your time.

* Repairing The World: I’ll admit some bias up front since the author’s a friend of mine, but starlightify’s DCU series of fanfics - largely centered around Superman and Batman - are a lot of fun, very funny and heartfelt. Some good samplers with Superman would be Salutation and Canidae.

* Silver Age Superman: I’ve never gotten my hands on this semi-legendary bootleg 1990 comic by Ed Pinsent and Mark Robinson, but the likes of Al Ewing and phenomenal comics critic Colin Smith have both declared this comic - starring by my understanding perhaps the most alienated version of its title character ever - among their absolute favorite Superman stories, and their word is more than good enough for me; if you see it out in the wild, I’d absolutely say pick it up. And grab a copy for me, would ya?

* Luthor’s Gift/Starwinds Howl: Bizarre as it is to list any Superman work of Elliot S! Maggin’s as fanfiction when he’s one of the characters’ most beloved writers, I suppose that is what these two stories count as given that they’ve only ever been published online and maybe in a fanzine or two to my knowledge rather than with DC’s official sanction, and they’re absolutely of a piece with his novels Last Son of Krypton and Miracle Monday. The latter is his take on how Krypto arrived on Earth; the former shows how Superman finally left Earth around the end of the 21st century the way he often hinted at in his other works.

* Tales of Smallville: Near as I can tell, I’m the only person on the face of the Earth - other than maybe Elliot Maggin, who endorsed these stories himself - who’s aware that on the site supermanthrutheages, Samuel Hawkins posted a series of 4 Superboy stories; him revealing himself to the world, his first big adventure with the Legion of Superheroes, a memorable dinner with a guest, and Martha Kent on her deathbed. On these stories, I know two things. 1. Posterity will unquestionably not validate him. It’s a handful of Silver/Bronze-Age Superboy fanfics on an out-of-the-way fansite, no one will remember them. And 2. He is a Morrison/Ennis/Maggin-tier Superman writer. If I have ever written anything in my life on Superman that you’ve agreed on, for the love of god at least read Martha’s Story, it might honestly be my favorite Superman story other than All-Star.

So along with those recommendations, I do have to throw a request on top: I vaguely recall having once read a short story somewhere online years ago about a Superman-type hero found in a field as an infant by farmers - one’s an alcoholic and one sleeps around, but they clean up their acts for the sake of the kid. He grows up to become a superhero and occasionally fights a Lex Luthorish scientist with an appropriately alliterative name who accuses him of impeding societal progress. Eventually, the hero flies off into space once everyone he knows dies, returning occasionally to Earth as he feels drawn back, to defend it, or rule it, or just wander it in obscurity; his longest and last stay is when he falls in love with a woman who he meets at a restaurant, when she’s the first in all those thousands of years to make apple pie as good as his mother’s. Eventually, he lives to the end of the universe, where he finds himself rocketing back through time and de-aging, crash-landing in a field and completing the time-loop. If anyone could point me in a direction towards it, it’d be very much appreciated; I don’t even recall if it’s any good, but I’ve been trying to find it for years and it’s the principle of the thing at this point.

#Superman #fanfic #Opinion

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rndyounghowze · 7 years

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The Addams Family Musical by Pirate Theatre at Cedar Creek High in Eggharbor City, NJ

By Ricky Young-Howze It was grim, dark, and dank in the Cedar Creek High School performing arts center last night. But don't worry it was just the drama club’s brilliant performance of The Addams Family a musical comedy with book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. This spooktacular production directed by John Stephan brings you a family of young actors that's creepy and kooky hilarious and spooky and altogether awesome. They made the timeless characters from the mind of Charles Addams rise again. . Gomez Addams’ (Corey Critelli) little daughter is all grown up and wanting to get married. Wednesday (Corinne Podolski) has asked that he keep his engagement to his normal fiancé, Lucas (Todor Penchev), a secret from Morticia (Vanessa Matos). Add Lucas’s plain Jane parents (Jack Hall and Caitlyn Fee) into the mix of the Addams household and you have a whimsical recipe for disaster. And let’s not forget her brother, Pugsley (Cody Tittermary) who is desperate to bring his sister back to him. He has a true uncertain terror at the prospect of never being tortured by Wednesday again. His comic diabolical scheme with Grandma (Natalie Reyes) to break-up his sister and her new boyfriend is devious and dark and you'd never expect anything less of him. Grandma is a fast talking straight shooting matron with a mouth full of sass and a wagon full of potions. You'd expect nothing less from her but side splitting snark. Add to that the constant comedy of Uncle Fester (Matt Sult) who serves as the go-between: between ancestors and family and audience and actors. His narration is full of one liners to keep you rolling in the aisles. His romantic love affair with the moon keeps your spirits lighter than air. And let's not forget Lurch (Jacob Alicea), the family butler. Slow but steady this tall, dark, and gruesome giant quickly finds a warm spot in your heart. But what would a musical about the Addams Family be without Gomez and Morticia? Talk about relationship goals! Their fiery passion was made to outlast everything? But will it outlast a tiny white lie Gomez tells to avoid hurting the two most important women in his life? John Stephan’s direction of this musical emphasized the family and how they play off of each other. The Addamses swim in drama like the monster swims in Loch Ness. Watch any scene between our family and you're laughing at the jokes coming at you a mile a minute. Look at the “Full Disclosure” scene and you can tell that he spent time on these characters with the kids and he loved the play that he was working on. I did feel, however, that there were a lot of “ancestors” in the chorus that didn't get their chance to shine in the action. Where I saw comedy in the main cast I saw ancestors standing around and I feel that I'd love to see him incorporate the chorus more in future productions. I felt the ensemble did get to shine in the dance numbers from the creative mind of Ashley Tabano as the choreographer. Her choreography filled the stage and got everyone up and moving. Like in “Around the Corner” where Morticia is joined by a chorus line of ancestors in a rollicking toe tapper. But she also played up the intimacy in numbers like “Tango Amor”. She crafted a dance for Morticia and Gomez that was passionate yet clean. Elaborate but easy to follow. This is another school where I see teenagers doing lifts that I have seen baffle adults and I'm really jealous! I would love to see more choreography from Tabano in the future. Mary Boner is scenic designer. She built the set with the help of Wayne Wriggins and Tom Kiesing. My favorite piece was the big gate in the opening number. I love that the set was simple and classic. There is a big temptation to go over the top in these kinds of things and I'm glad that her work got to stay on stage a lot and stand out. James Goodrich’s musical direction was spectacular! He brings a fifteen piece band to the show that brings their A game and rocks the joint. In numbers like “Pulled in a Different Direction”, “Love” and the Opening number you can really feel the band put their full weight behind the performers and blow us away. However there were other times where I felt myself straining to hear the singers over the music. That's obviously a microphone problem and not his fault but it is a shame some singers were overpowered. But don't worry mic problems are very common gremlins on opening night. I'm sure that they were fixed immediately so that they won't happen in future performances! All of the cast was just amazing and I was really wowed by their commitment to the characters. Critelli and Matos played a wonderful Gomez and Morticia. Again I'm jealous that their Tango game is so on point at their age! I really think that Corinne Podolski’s voice is the real reason two of these songs are stuck in my head. Cody Tittermary’s Pugsley was so wrong which means he was just right! And who can't love Matt Sult’s commitment to comedy with Fester! Shout out to Jack Hall, Caitlyn Fee, and Todor Penchev for making “normal” look creepy as the Beineke’s. Straight laced never looked so scary! Two supporting standouts from last night’s performance is Natalie Reyes and Jacob Alicea. Reyes’ Grandmother was just so funny and I know she really put her heart into it. And here’s to Jacob who came out from doing backstage work to walk on platform shoes to play such an awesome part! Give them some extra applause! And here's to Makayla Baggstrom, Taylor Blaisdell, Thomas Burger, Annalise Catherine, Jose De La Cruz, Sydnie Decamp, Madison Davila, Kayla Dyer, Jennin Fleming, Deana Flores, Elizabeth Glass, Gracie Harris, Brandon Henry, Rebekah Hillard, Alex Lacherre, Gabriella Martinez, Alexis Mathis, Kira Murdock, Madelyn Pamientieri, Tara Petrosh, Sophia Romano, Madison Torres, Julia Train, and Grace Wilson. You guys danced and sang your hearts out and there wouldn't have been a show without you wacky guys! So get out and get onstage for the next show! I definitely want to see all of you again! The Addams Family Is a non-stop roller coaster ride of enjoyment. You definitely have to go see it! The Addams Family opened on Thursday March 2 at 6:30 PM and plays through March 4 at the Cedar Creek High School Performing Arts Center. You can get tickets on book-tix.com.

#nj #theatre #atlantic county #eggharbor city #Cedar Creek High School #the addams family #musical theatre

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