I recently got the two TPBs of DC comics' "The New Frontier". I had seen the movie, which is great, and recently watched it again while listening to the commentary (I rarely do that, since it's usually distracting or not very good).
the books are excellent. well written and drawn, with most everything in the "right" order of how things would have gone had the DCU decided to progress in "real" time.
Darwyn Cooke made use of much history from the DCU, including the blacklisting of the JSA by the "commie hunters" and their subsequent disbanding. though how did Jay Garrick get to be known as the original Flash? I loved all the little touches he included and tied together, much the same way Alan Moore has done with other characters in the past. and that's a high compliment as anyone who knows me will realize.
my main gripe with most comics these days is that- aside from them having to be "realistic" and "dark and gritty" the characters never really do mature or age. thus the writers and artists have to use the same plots over and over again.
anyway, the one thing that didn't quite gel with me, in the book or the movie, was the villain, The Centre. it's so just there. the movie helped out making more of a menace, but it seemed almost beside the point. I know they had to get all the heroes together and it works, but it doesn't seem to be exactly what was needed.
the rest is gold though!
Astro "helps" some other kids in a row boat show up some richies in their motor boat. he "helps" them right out of the lake and into the woods, where they spy a strange plant. Astro then relates the story of the weird plant.
this entails an alien invasion that tries to take all the Earth's water.
weird story, and sort of predictable to me (but kids may have been surprised). the animation is improving, even this early on. did rich kids always look down on poor kids? I mean, if they are in boats on the lake, come on. there had to be some kind of etiquette back then. but Tezuka's designs are always cool and fun.
after I finish up with the Mebius series (the last 6 episodes) I think I will start at the beginning and do my patented capsule reviews (only fitting for an Ultra series, don'tcha think?) of said series.
or... maybe I'll start with the original. sure, it's been done by tons of other people, but it's not like I don't enjoy watching the series'. then move on to any others I might be able to watch episodes of with subs or dubs. I have several here and there from most series, but I don't have full runs for most of them. good thing I can watch 'em at work during down times.
one of the great things about Mebius is returning to the original series of Ultras. the newer ones have been OK for the most part (I did quite enjoy Max) but seeing the original Ultras battle again, plus their human forms (especially getting to Leo and 80, who never seem to get much love elsewhere) is just fantastic.
these are based on the US DVD sets that have been released, by the way. and Astro is definitely growing on me.
4. "
The Sphinx"
one was quite interesting- Astro runs out of energy and some eville men trick him into find a hidden cave to steal valuable equipment. he is only given small amounts of power so he can't fly away. I like the Sphinx character a lot.
5. "
Cross Island"
Dr. Sinister escapes and plans to steal treasure from Cross Island. another boy robot- Bobo- helps him. Bobo wants to be powerful like Astro, but things don't go as planned.
the animation isn't really that great- Hanna-Barbera was actually better at the time, in terms of fluidity. however, Tezuka makes excellent use of multiple panes to shoot through, giving the cartoon a great 3-D look (more spectacular in black and white as well) that US tv toons never got back then. that, and the inventive camera work really hide the animation "flaws".
and only 101 left... the Japanese title will be after the English ones.
anyway, the "Birth of Astro Boy" is just that. his creation, his creator's rejection, etc. not my favorite episode.
"Colosso" (Frankenstein) comes to life when robots are assigned to manufacture other robots, and can't do it. he goes berserk, takes up with some gangsters and then gets fixed.
"Expedition to Mars" Astro is put in command of the second mission to Mars. there he deals with robot prejudice and an alien invasion.
a couple things struck me about these episodes- death for one thing, was everywhere. the human version of Astro gets killed by a car, and the annoying commander in #3 sacrifices himself to stop the alien invasion. and they admit it! usually US versions would say something like "oh, he's banged up, but he will recover soon and has learned a valuable lesson." not here!
and Tezuka's humor- evident also in Kimba, the White Lion, is truly funny. it's lots of little bits here and there, but there's usually no dialog with it, so it has to work on it's own. and it does. he also designs the weirdest, coolest alien critters in #3. ima have to do some screen grabs from there, as they are very cool. not in the least be realistic, which makes it even better!
so Astro is growing on me. he was pretty whiny in those first two episodes, but the third one was fun. he's no Prince Planet, but he'll do for now.
I have never been a huge Astro Boy fan, simply because I never saw him growing up. I understand the cultural
significance of the cartoon (and do love Kimba, the White Lion). however, I am going to watch the run of Astro Boy in the near future, and see how it looks. I've watched the first disc already, and he comes off pretty whiny at times.
boy, I wish I knew how to format pictures better.
anyway, I'm still a much bigger fan of Prince Planet than ol' Astro.
this is an image from the Marine Boy episode "Battle to Save The World" on the Saturday Morning Cartoons DVD set that recently was released. the good news is this, and all the cartoons look pretty great. the bad news is, at least about the set, is that some of the episodes have been released already in sets- Space Ghost, Flintstones and the Jetsons have already got discs out, why bother to include them?
not to mention Marine Boy wasn't really on Saturday mornings - not network tv like the other shows were. but that's a minor fanboy quibble.
the episode itself is a pretty good selection. there's no giant monster, but lots of action and we get to see all the main characters
, though Neptina is mostly just a cameo in this episode. so the almost worth it for this episode alone. seeing the show like this, cleaned up after years of multi-generational dubs, one can only hope for a legit release some day.
the rest of the cool episodes- Space Ghost, Herculoids, Impossibles and Frankenstein, Jr are good. Atom Ant is a fun show as well.
I gotta say, I don't think I could or would enjoy Kamen Rider Den-O that much. at least judging from his (their?) appearance in Decade. too weird, even for me. I do like their forms, more than the bulky looking armored Riders of Blade or Kabuto. I think Faiz looks like a good show. from the appearances of all the ads for the Den-O/Decade movie crossover, it looks like it was a popular show though.
I'm almost to episode #18, which is the first part of the Hibiki crossover. drat, now I will have to wait until four more episodes get subtitled to see what happens.
in Marine Boy news, tomorrow I'll be getting the "Saturday Morning Cartoons" disc with the episode of our hero on it. I rented the first disc, and was less than impressed with the selection. I'll discuss more tomorrow once I view it. looks like it might even have Herculoids on it!
(just copied the title from Wiki... don't yell if it's wrong)
Decade and Ryuki and Shark Rider Guy all decide that Bat Rider Ren is to blame for the death of Momoi (the editor, I think, from last episode). Kuuga says no.
it's pretty obvious who actually did it, but there's some good fighting about to happen. and not even in the mirror world. We also learn that our not so mystery villain isn't human, and isn't from Ryuki's world.
Bat Rider fights Kamen Rider Odin (not even named) and gets a time travel card. yes, paradoxes still happen in Ryuki land. but it all works out, even if our hero's pals don't know why they are leaving this world so soon after they got there.
next up- Blade's world, one I've never seen at all.
in which Decade and his friends are visiting Ryuki's world. it's a bit different now than it was in his series, though, as the "Riders" are used as a jury system. still ripping off the whole Highlander series though, as the last survivor can decide innocence or guilt.
I made no secret of thinking Ryuki as a series was pretty not good. the fights were poorly staged and consisted of lots of explosions more than fisticuffs. Shinji (Ryuki) was a wimpy girlie-man and everyone's favorite brooder, Ren (Bat-Knight-Rider, I forget), was an obnoxious whiny boy. add to that the "badass" Oja (who didn't even die well) and I hated most of the characters.
except for Swan, who was only in one of the movies.
this time, I am enjoying the characters. it helps that there is a lot of hand to hand action in the series, as Decade either has spent the budget on all the suits for the previous Riders and villains. it's been the best of the new shows I've seen, which, granted, is very little. I like Hibiki as well, from the 13 episodes I've seen of his show.
I am looking forward to the movie where ALL the Riders will meet and kick the snot out of Dai-Shocker!
(yes, the picture is from an earlier episode in Kuuga's world, it's all I could do at the moment.)
I recently got the two TPBs of DC comics' "The New Frontier". I had seen the movie, which is great, and recently watched it again while listening to the commentary (I rarely do that, since it's usually distracting or not very good). 
