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taiblogcomics · 2 years

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Villains United

Hey there, pregnancy pants. Forever Evil continues, and thus so does our review!

Here's the cover:

This might be the most generic cover of the lot. Like, it's a wild team composition, but otherwise it is just a group shot. At least the posing is rather varied and dynamic. That's really all there is to say about it! It's not bad, but I wouldn't write home about it either.

We pick up where we left off, down under Wayne Enterprises. Power Ring is fleeing in panic. Sinestro is following behind him, doing it the slow way. He is leader of the fear lanterns, after all. He would be a master of the "slow, pursued-by-a-killer" walk. Meanwhile, the rest of the groups slug it out while Lex Luthor narrates about how of course everything would come down to him. Lex saves Batman from Copperhead to get Bats on his side for the fight. Fighting the Syndicate's goons now is more important than either of them's dislike for each other.

Likewise, the other members of Luthor's squad also learn the value of teamwork. Catwoman goads Black Adam into throwing Giganta out of the building. Black Manta blasts Shadow-Thief (who I guess is a lady in the New 52?) to get her off Captain Cold's back. And while Lex and Batman actually fight over who gets to fight Copperhead, Deathstroke sneaks up and points a gun at Lex's head, snarking that Lex never included a helmet on his cool battlesuit because then no one could tell it was him. I mean, I gotta say, point goes to Deathstroke there~

While the fights go on, Power Ring ducks into a side tunnel to cry to himself for a bit. His ring persuades him to wish for more power, and Power Ring relents. He and Sinestro briefly struggle in an exchange of beams, but then Sinestro actually cuts the guy's arm off with a circular saw construct. His ring decides the host is too damaged to continue and abandons him, Power Ring crying tears of pain and happiness that he's finally free, thanking Sinestro. Sinestro says he's welcome before he incinerates him to skeletal ash.

And in a neat mirrored panel, Lex informs Deathstroke that if the Syndicate takes over the world, there'll be no need for mercinaries like him. They'll do everything themselves, and that's just bad business. And Lex knows business. So Deathstroke moves his gun from Lex to Copperhead, and shoots the snakeman in the head, mirroring the same shot of Sinestro vaporising Power Ring. It's very cinematic. Bizarro finishes up everything by plowing Blockbuster into the ground, and Lex actually tells him he did a good job. Praise and motivation are important, for both employees and pets~

We get a brief aside while Ultraman discovers Batman has taken the Kryptonite ring from the Batcave and that Power Ring is dead, putting them on edge. Afterwards, Lex offers his team-up to Batman, since they both want to take out the Crime Syndicate. Batman's refusing, since he wants them taken alive. Sinestro walks in to report that Power Ring is already dead, so it's a bit late for that. He also gives Batman some notes for the next time he feels the urge to use one of his rings. Batman would make a fantastic Yellow Lantern, after all.

Lex then persuades both Deathstroke and Sinestro to join his side. Sinestro, he appeals to his need to be in charge and the chance to rub saving the world in the Green Lanterns' face. Deathstroke, he just promises him a lot of money. He then extends the offer to Batman, who rolls low on his Intimidation check. But he agrees to join up only if they help him rescue Dick Grayson.

And the comic ends with the Crime Syndicate noting that Power Ring's ring is putting out a lot of weird subspace pulses while searching for a new host. But the new host doesn't matter. What matters is what else has head those pulses: the same mysterious entity that chased them out of their own universe has arrived now. This looks like a job for... well, frankly, I don't know who at this point~

So, pretty good issue. Mostly fight scenes, but with some heavy character stuff in the midst of it. Mostly it’s an issue to show Lex as the smartest guy in the room. He gets Deathstroke on his side with just words. Sure, the money helps, but it’s more the promise of any hope of payment that convinces him. It’s very clever. Next week, we’ll hit the climax, and it looks like we’ll finish this event before the month is out~

#comics #reviews #Forever Evil #Taiblog

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yeonchi · 3 years

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Kisekae Insights #22: My Friend Karen (Baby-Sitters Little Sister)

I remember back in primary school (Grade 2 or 3, or maybe it was 1) when we were first allowed to borrow library books from the fiction section (instead of picture books) and the first book I picked up was Karen’s Worst Day. There was a whole section full of The Baby-Sitters Club and Baby-Sitters Little Sister books and so, I was hooked on the latter series from then on; I was never really interested in the former. I’ve seen people review the books on “BSC snark” blogs in the past few years and, well, let’s just say that I never realised how Karen was from the perspective of older fans who have probably read more of the series than I have. I guess the Karen meme isn’t without some cultural context.

Did I implement The Baby-Sitters Club in my personal project? For the longest time, I didn’t. By the time I went to secondary school, I stopped reading the series as I was getting hooked on Horrible Histories and later, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. But the memories of reading the Baby-Sitters Little Sister books and implementing the characters in me and my friends’ imaginary adventures stayed over the years; it wasn’t until 2019 with Soulbound Series 3 that I finally got the idea to pay tribute to the series before I finished up my personal project. However, given the original period that the books were published (1988-2000), you would imagine that there would be some sort of culture shock that I never thought about during primary school; needless to say, I found a way around it.

Oh, and by the way, I am following the graphic novels as well. The graphic novels are quite modernised compared to the original books and I like the art style, though one detail that didn’t sit right with me was how they made Hannie Papadakis’ family part-African American when they were entirely Greek in the original books. Oh well, diversity and inclusion, I guess. It’s not that surprising given that the artist, Katy Farina, is LGBT and based in California. I don’t know how many books they’re planning on making into graphic novels given that there are 122 books in the Little Sister series, though I do hope they publish more novels more often instead of every 6 months. Anyway, let’s get right into the story.

History’s Strait

This story takes place in Soulbound Series 3.

The story begins with two different people in two different places and two different time periods. In 1986 and 2006, a young Karen Brewer and Hiroki Ichigo encounter time portals in their homes. Walking through them, they end up in the year 2016, where the Doctor and his recent companion, an older blonde woman, are investigating a time disturbance that is making things appear and disappear around the city. The cause of the disturbance is revealed to be King Goldras, a monster that was summoned by Yanagiri, the main antagonist of the series.

Hikaru Tomokaze, who was travelling with the crew of the Barrier Base, UltLives into Ultraman Nexus and puts up a Meta Field, reducing the effect of the time distortions, before finishing King Goldras off with the Over-Ray Schtrom. There’s another fight between Hikaru and Yanagiri as Ginga and Venokatto, but that’s not important right now. The monster’s defeat causes Karen and Hiroki to fade away and return to their original places in space and time… or so they thought.

The Doctor and his companion then head to 2019 to meet present-day Hiroki. It is then that the blonde woman reveals herself to be the present-day Karen, who is now in her 40’s. The two head into a café and catchup on what happened in the many years since their seemingly random meeting.

A Friendship that Crossed Time

This story takes place in Soulbound Series 4.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic on Earth, Karen decided not to go back to the US, instead deciding to stay with the Doctor (because even the Doctor isn’t exempt from travel restrictions and quarantine requirements lol).

By 2021, Hiroki was investigating the identity of the demonic overlord who was constantly changing his timeline even after the time-space anomalies (particularly associated with the Time War) had subsided. As he is discussing this with Karen over dinner one night, they hear screams coming from outside their restaurant and head outside to discover an enemy invasion from Che Antara and Gengilas. Seemingly remembering how they fought beside each other in the past, Hiroki and Karen work together to fight the two villains, who retreat after a quick battle.

As Hiroki and Karen wondered how they even remembered fighting alongside one another, some Reapers begin appearing around them and devouring people. The Fifth Doctor quickly brings them to the TARDIS, where he explains to them that there is a paradox connecting 1986 with 2006 and they are the ones at the centre of it. He discovers that one particular timeline at the centre of the paradox, where Hiroki and Karen kept meeting after the original incident with King Goldras, is being powered by the same time disturbances caused by said monster, but is shocked to learn that it is being maintained by a TARDIS.

Following the incident with King Goldras, the Second Doctor believed that Hiroki and Karen were supposed to meet more frequently as kids in this timeline and so, he reopened the time portals and used his TARDIS to maintain them. As a result, Hiroki and Karen were able to travel to each other’s time periods and hang out with their friends, go on adventures, fight battles and so forth. After some time, a time differential caused the Second Doctor to appear older because of what was about to happen.

The Fifth Doctor confronts his older incarnation and tells him to close the time portals before the paradoxes swallow up time and space. Not wanting to let their past selves move on without closure, the Doctor allows Hiroki and Karen to tell their past selves that this is the last time they can see each other, reassuring them that they will see each other again in the future.

The time portals are closed and everything returns to normal, with Hiroki and Karen now remembering the adventures they had in that seemingly forgotten timeline and the Doctor now knowing the actions of his past self.

And so, that concludes the adventures between Karen Brewer and Hiroki Ichigo. You may be interested to know that they became confidants given what they went through over the years. Heck, I probably could have done a Kamen Rider Kiva with that 1986-2006 time gap. The forgotten timeline in that last story probably wasn’t the only timeline where Hiroki and Karen met; there could be timelines where they existed in the same time period or went on more adventures between time periods than what we saw. But for now, Hiroki can brag to Akari and everyone else he knows how he once had a friend named Karen Brewer.

Anyway, here’s some Plastic Love by Mariya Takeuchi to round off this post. It’s the insert song that would be played among the montage of Hiroki and Karen having adventures in each other’s time periods.

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#kisekae insights #doctor who #ultraman #the babysitters club #babysitters little sister

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