“Yesterday’s” Comic> Weird Comics #1

A girl and monkey chained to the wall as our hero shoots at a creepy mad scientist.

“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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Saturday Night Showcase> Mega Monster Battle Ultra Galaxy

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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BW’s Saturday Article Link> When Are The Avengers Allowed To Cry?

 

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.

Free Comic Inside> The Starriors Defend A Wall

Free Comic Inside logo

Well, it looks like I still can’t find the Spider-Man minicomics from Peter Pan peanut butter lids besides the one I own, so it’s back to the Starriors and the destroyed Earth they came from. There’s a time that didn’t feel prophetic.

For the newcomers: Starriors was a toyline from Tomy in the 1980s, trying to cash in on the robot craze. The idea is that solar flares drove man into hibernation, leaving robots called Starriors to fix the planet when the mess was done and restore humanity. However, one of the Destructors, Slaughter Steelgrave, is convinced that man’s time is done and the Starriors should rule. He’s tricked even his own side into believing man is a myth, and tries to hide evidence of them from Destructor and Protector alike. However, a group of Starriors led by Hotshot are out to prove they did.

Two Starriors, one Destructor with a claw body, and a Protector, fighting near a wall depicting images of man.

Everyone’s an art critic.

Except we aren’t following those groups in this one. I guess we managed to get some new toys by the time issue five was produced, because we’re focusing solely on them this time. Six new characters, three on each side, are still operating back at the old homestead, and this issue we’re going to see how the other Starriors are reacting to these events.

Like the other issues we have no creator credits outside of it being made by Marvel, who also made the four issue store comic miniseries, so we’ll just hop right into issue #5 of the Starriors pack-in minicomic, “The Wall”, and see all the new figures for the kids to bug their parents for. You can read along by downloading the CBR file from Virtualnaut. He has the rest of the series up as well, but I’ve reviewed the earlier issues, and there’s one more after this that will have to wait for the rotation to come around again.

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BW’s Daily Video> Street Fighter’s Production Hell

NOTE: Cursing drunken Scottsman

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Praising Physical Media Doesn’t Mean Trashing Digital Media

Between here and my other website, The Clutter Reports, I’m a staunch defender of physical media. It can’t be altered once you get it, unless you alter it. The physical disk doesn’t disappear because the company that released it wants you to buy the new version, which is why they hate it because they want to keep getting money rather than get it once. There’s also that tactile sensation of holding a book or a comic, of putting in the disk, cassette, or cartridge and knowing it will start up relatively fast compared to a download, and there’s no ads except what’s snuck into the background, which at least makes it feel more like real life. (Admittedly difficult to promote Starbucks that way in a fantasy setting or an alien planet. Though you can have an alien NAMED Starbuck.) If I have a choice, I’d rather own it than stream it.

However, there are advantages to digital media as well, and it seems that gets forgotten in the worries over kids always being on their smart devices or computers all day. Don’t get me wrong, they should get out and enjoy the world we live in if possible. If you live in a bad neighborhood or the weather’s bad, it isn’t possible. The 2020 lockdowns did teach us to keep our distance, and that allowed the control freaks using activism to keep us separated as a people to get us out of social connections in person rather than social media or an MMO, either using a screen or a VR headset. We totally need to get people out of the house and into the real world…but a book nook isn’t getting out into the real world, either. And I do love me some books.

When I first started writing this article, it was the idea that books were better than the internet, as if somehow ebooks, news sites, and the aforementioned social media isn’t reading. I couldn’t go far with that alone, but if we go over all the dumb arguments against digital media when it’s not the enemy, I have something to do commentary stuff on. So let’s do that.

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BW’s Daily Video> Why Batman Can’t Just Give His Money Away

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By the way, Bruce does give money to charities, gives people jobs–including ex-cons to keep them out of “having” to return to being criminals and henchmen, and raising funds for the rare honest politician or police in Gotham City. VERY rare. Money doesn’t solve everything.