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Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as a read-along book club.
So last time we finally got to hang with the actual cast of this portion of the franchise and set up yet another problem. One of the previous not-a-plague-or-theme-related problems is coming up as we return to Korsal and Kevin. They were up a mountain last we saw.
I don’t remember having a problem with the subplot count as a kid, and we have quite a few:
- the plague that’s the central conflict
- the potential impact on the IDIC perspective that serves as the theme of the character conflict
- the radical activist types that are tied to it
All that I’m okay with, but we also have:
- Kevin getting into Starfleet as the first half-Klingon
- the generator damage possibly causing power issues
- Kevin and Korsal stuck on the mountain
- an Orion considering turning the plague into a bioweapon for money
- one of the aforementioned activists with a history of the Vulcan version of stalking going after a new target
Admittedly, some of my annoyance now is due to what I’ve gone through recently with Watchmen and the Op-Center novels: too many subplots and character moments that don’t really tie into the main story. It’s the same reasons I never got into soap operas. The one time I saw an interesting story as a kid, because my mom was really into her soaps, they kept moving away from the villain trying to flash freeze the city in a spy story for things I didn’t care about. Again, I enjoyed this book enough to eventually grab the novel it spun off of, but now I kind of want to spend more time with the regular characters than all these expanded characters that have been the focus so far. We still aren’t quite at the halfway mark so maybe we’ll get the regulars more of a presence, but it’s not happening this chapter. We have a different mountain to climb, and this one’s literal.
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I didn’t even know he was Canadian.
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No comic this week because every day was filled with distractions. My buffer’s taken a hit, I had insomnia a couple of nights ago and it usually takes me a couple of days to get back in rights, and all of that means that I didn’t get to make a comic. I also wanted to start a series of polls finding out why people come here and see what I should focus on, but I’m not trusting my writing skills today. I have one more distraction this week, maybe two, and hopefully I’ll have time to just make stuff again.
Over at the Clutter Reports I had to use my old DC Comics Presents #50 review from Scanning My Collection, one of the ones I reference a lot. So now those readers are aware of that comic. That also means I have no buffers over there so I really better get something together, at least in time for tomorrow’s Chapter By Chapter review of Star Trek: The IDIC Epidemic installment.
In the meantime, if you want to tell me why you come here in the comments, that’s useful data for me. Otherwise, next week should start a bunch of questions about how to improve BW operations. Otherwise, have a great week, everyone. Hopefully this is the last comic I miss this year.
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“I keep accepting invitations to the WRONG partiesl”
Weird Comics #1
Fox Publications (April, 1940)
I was going to write this off as a horror comic based on the title, and maybe the cover. Then I decided to scroll through and I think you’ll see from the first story what made me curious. Fox Publications has had a pretty good Golden Age track record with me, though not perfect, so I like this comic’s chances. The only way to find out is to read the comics. In the two links, one is a more recent scan while the other comes from an old fiche transfer, so you choose your preference.
[Read along with me here or here]
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Why yes, it is a Japanese title. An Ultraman title to be exact.
Mega Monster Battle Ultra Galaxy: The Movie is a 2009 collaboration between Tsuburaya Productions and the Japanese branch of Warner Brothers. It was the third highest Ultraman movie in theaters according to the Ultra Fandom wiki. The English dub was recently released on YouTube, but for some reason in two parts. This goes along with the Godzilla channel splitting the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla episodes in three parts, which also confuses me. What odd deal does Japan have with Warner Brother owned properties, and how much of it will still be available when Skydance is done with their absorption?
Anyway, the story finds the evil Ultraman Belial, future father of Geed, seeking the Plasma Spark, source of Ultraman power. It will take Ultraseven, Mebius, and Dyna to stop him alongside Rei (no, definitely not her) and The ZAP SPACY crew from Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle (which is no longer on YouTube, so you may want to watch this quick), and a new young Ultra we know today: Ultraman Zero. Can they stop Belial and save M78 and the Land Of Light?
The version that may still be up when you watch this is the second English dub, produced by Okratron 5000 in 2024. If you’ve caught the Ultra Galaxy Fight series you’ll notice that Zero sounds like the Dragon Ball franchise’s adult Goku. Nothing against Sean Schemmel. He’s a good VA. I just think his previous voice was better and did a better job showcasing Zero’s ego and compassion. Schemmel has also played Zero in Ultraman Teo, the current series as of this writing, at least in Ultra form, and it was kind of off-putting hearing his new voice. Also, apologies to the sub only folks as they don’t currently have a subbed Japanese version on their Japanese channel. As noted earlier, this is in two parts for some reason, but both videos are here. I would have just used the playlist but they’re in the wrong order.
So enjoy while you can, folks. Hopefully it’s still up.
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Building up a buffer has given the opportunity to finally get an article link out of the vault and into potential circulation. Before the Weeping Doctor, someone on Tumblr was disappointed in the lack of crying from the characters of Star Wars animated show The Bad Batch about one of the fellow messed up clones being lost. This prompted author and friend of BW Caroline Furlong to respond. She opted for a different Disney acquisition in showcasing when a male hero is allowed to break down and cry, using the MCU version of the Avengers as her example. Short version: it depends on the situation and the character. Unless you hate masculinity. Then you get the 15th Doctor.
