Tag Archives: Spawn

TRANSFORMERS #10 FEATURES A LETTER BY THE SPARTANNERD!

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Below is what I sent in to “The Matrix of Lettership” in reference to Transformers #8 after I was moved by the character development. This was an issue about grief. This letter was printed in issue #10.

Dear Matrix of Lettership,

I have been reading comics for years and years.  I barely remember not reading comics (I am 45.). But I’ve never written in.  This is my first time.

When I saw advertisements for the Energon Universe reboot…I was very excited.  But Transformers now stands a head taller than all other comics in recent memory.  I mean…since Flashpoint and The New 52.  Since McFarlane’s Spider-Man and Spawn 1-100.  And it works better than the comic book versions before it for some good reasons…you are bringing real life to these characters.  Every one introduced so far has some reason for you to care about what happens to them.  From Megatron in the hands of Cobra Commander to Soundwave taking revenge against Starscream for kicking Ravage.

But issue #8 is plumbing some even deeper depths.  There is real grief from Carly and Spike.  And it all weighs so heavy on Optimus.  I wonder if personal experiences from the writers are going into this character development?  I know it spoke to me because I have had some intense grief in the past few years.  But one panel in particular stuck out.  I felt like this small panel should have been a cover.  (Can it be?  Is there a way?)  Optimus sits beside Jetfire, who is barely alive and evidently on his way out.  He says “I cannot see the stars anymore.” And “Don’t leave!  It’s so dark.  Please…”. 

Yes.  We all read it.  But for me, it struck a nerve.  I have sat beside too many dying saints who just needed or would have wanted someone to be there.  You mentioned the issue was very hard to write and you didn’t know why.  I think I know.  There was so much conscience in this work.  From this touching panel to SkyWarp changing his mind to Thundercracker wishing to spare the humans.

I think the last book that got to me like this was Action Comics #13 WAY BACK in the New 52 (The Krypton issue.)  The moment between Optimus and Jetfire also reminded me of “I don’t feel so good Mr. Stark!”  And we all sit there feeling so many emotions as Tom Holland/Peter Parker fades away.  It weighed that much.  And full disclosure, I never have been that big of a fan of Jetfire.  (Loved the Revenge of the Fallen version). You made me care.  Mission accomplished!

Here is the printed response I received from The Matrix of Lettership

Thanks so much for recognizing myself in the pages, [SpartanNerd], and for recognizing the struggle! By no means do I try to put my actual feelings into TF, but we all have things we go through that influence how we feel about the world, and it’s my personal opinion that storytelling is very bland and one note without this individual human perspective. I’m hoping that TRANSFORMERS is a little like a reader taking some “DWJ goggles” and seeing what the filter does to the world around them. I’m trying my best to put myself in the worlds’ shoes, and what better way to do that than with Optimus friggin Prime? Maybe that’s embarrassing to say out loud. OH WELL.

NOTES AND THOUGHTS (for the benefit of friends who don’t regularly read SpartanNerd.Com)

What happened?

Comic books traditionally have a “letters page” at the end, where readers can write the creators and provide feedback and ask questions. Transformers has named their letters page “The Matrix of Lettership” which is a riff on the “Matrix of Leadership” item that Optimus Prime has installed in his chest. (Also, in case you don’t know…this item is a symbolic totem offering the wisdom of the past to the chosen leader who has it…It is a great honor to have it then!) Usually the feedback offered by fans is positive, but sometimes constructive criticism is offered. I have no idea how many letters were sent in to Transformers, but I bet they get a ton. (Letters nowadays means e-mails). But I CAN say that it seems like every issue of Transformers on this Image/Skybound run has gone to reprints. I’ll be getting every variant cover I can now of issue #10 since I am published out there to readers of Transformers comics.

I am very blessed to have my letter printed. The topic of grief is one that I am soon to be leading church devotions in. I read this issue right as I was being called to do that, so it hit the right notes for me.

What am I talking about in my letter? What does the response mean?

On announcing to Facebook and to others about my letter being published, I was unaware that people outside of comics wouldn’t know exactly what I was talking about, pretty much at all. For instance a librarian that I know didn’t realize it. My wife’s aunt didn’t. So here is some explanation.

Transformers- This was a toyline by Hasbro in the 1980’s of vehicles that transformed into robots. There were two teams…The Autobots and the Decepticons. The battle between the two sides was on a syndicated cartoon show modeled after what Mattel did with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Optimus Prime was the Autobot leader and is the enduring symbol of the franchise. Other notable transformers are Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Bumblebee, and for purposes of this letter, Jetfire. (Transformers is the American adaptation of the Japanese “Giant Robot” genre. So they are an offshoot of Gundam.)

The SpartanNerd can list on one hand how many of these toys he owned as a kid. They were so expensive I didn’t have many. He-Man figures were $5, while Transformers were usually more like $20, except for the mini-cars. Mini-cars were the same size as Hot Wheels and featured simple transformations. These were about $5 each, but a Hot Wheels was less than a dollar, so…The point is, I didn’t have many, and most of the ones I had were Decepticons. These were Schrapnel (Insecticon), Weird Wolf (Headmaster), Scattershot (a part of Computron), and Shockwave. Eventually one of my brothers got Powermaster Optimus Prime for Christmas. It seems like one of us might have had Ratchet.

There was an iconic and tragic Transformers movie where Optimus Prime was killed and the show “jumped the shark” in my opinion then and now. Transformers regained popularity in the 2000’s when Micheal Bay began to make live-action movies using CGI. Modern Transformers toys aren’t as solid as the classics from the 1980’s, but they seem to be more categorically affordable. (I don’t have any of these, but my children did. Modern collectors versions are BONKERS AWESOME.)

The Letters.

Flashpoint and New 52 were DC Comics “reboots” within the past 15 years. Flashpoint truly re-mixed the classic characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. The New 52 is basically where the story continued after “The Flashpoint.” (It’s kind of the same story they have going on now.)

In my letter I referenced the New 52 Action Comics #13 and made a typo…that should have been the “Krypto” issue, not “Krypton.” Cut me some slack…it was 11:30 PM! This is the issue that Krypto gets locked in the phantom zone while the planet explodes. But he is like an angel watching Clark Kent grow up. Until eventually they learn to use the Phantom Zone (this story was maybe ten years ago…I don’t remember the details,) but Krypto jumps out ready to play. The way the story was written was very emotional, and unexpected. It was a fresh take on what was sometimes a corny character.

Spawn issues 1-100…this was Todd McFarlane’s comic book character after he left Marvel. The first 100 issues are what most Spawn fans consider the best story. This still is an ongoing story, but most fans believe the best days are behind it way back in those issues. I have read these 100 issues many times. I also like an offshoot book, Spawn: The Dark Ages. All around, Spawn is kind of a combination of Batman, Ghost Rider, Hobgoblin, Spider-Man. This was a comic written for an adult audience…it left the trappings and restraints of usual super-hero comics behind in favor of “extreme” art, violence, and language. It also handled religious and social issues as “comedy” in the sense of Dante’s Inferno.

Jetfire– I remember watching the Transformers cartoon as a kid and realizing that Jetfire was a Decepticon who turned Autobot. I felt it was some kind of brainwashing or something. I mean…I was young, so this was how I understood it. the Transformers movie sequel Revenge of the Fallen portrayed him in a military museum disguised as a plane, dormant from lack of energon. He scans a more modern Blackbird to transform into when Sam activates him with his shard of the Allspark. My father thought this was hilarious on account of the writers made Jetfire into an old senile man with gas. (We watched this movie together in the theater, a rare treat as an adult and a good memory of my dad laughing). Upon hearing the state of the war, he switches sides from Decepticon to Autobot right there in front of us. But Jetfire eventually saves the day, sacrificing his spark and parts to revive Optimus Prime, making the two of them combiners at least temporarily.

In the Energon Universe, which is essentially what we used to call Transformers vs. GI JOE, Jetfire is the first Transformer we saw in Void Rivals #1. And then he re-appears in Transformers #8 depleted of energon and essentially dying. And this is the component of the story I was addressing when I wrote in. There is grief and introspection from most of the characters in this issue, not just about Jetfire, but the human characters Carly and Spike have also lost loved ones, and Spike is in a wheelchair for getting involved in the Autobot/Decepticon affairs.

DWJ goggles…this is Daniel Warren Johnson, the writer of the current Image “Skybound” Transformers comic. He is saying he hopes to portray the fantasy world of Transformers to the real modern world in a way that he sees it. He said something else in this letters column (not in response to me), that has me worried. He said “Why am I working so hard on licensed characters.” He also responded to someone else’s letter that there wouldn’t be any spinoff series while he was the writer. I certainly hope he doesn’t go anywhere! He is doing a great job of bringing alot of soul to this book! (Image has a history of taking pride in original characters. They are a mainstream “indy” publisher if such a thing can exist.)

Complaint

I have had this one for a few issues. They have printed the letters in light pink on white paper. My failing eyes gave me a lot of trouble reading this. It seems like some other Energon Universe letters had yellow on white. Come on guys!

Final Thoughts

I truly find it an honor to have my letter published. This book has been great, and the Energon Universe is new and exciting. I like how it was put in a recent GI Joe comic’s letter section…the Energon Universe is comparable to Marvel’s Ultimate comics of the early 2000’s. It is a re-thinking of Transformers and GI Joe. Void Rivals is space opera, that is beginning to trickle down into Transformers, which is a contextual story, and GI Joe is effected by it on a human military level. If you like Transformers and GI Joe, you should jump into this new universe. There is an ongoing GI Joe story not in the Energon universe…don’t get confused! The Energon Universe GI Joe books have been named after main characters so far. Duke, Cobra Commander, Scarlett, and Destro. I recommend all of these as a great place to jump in to what I hope is a universe that lasts a LONG TIME.

Masterverse New Eternia Mekaneck – SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review

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I kept putting this purchase off, but didn’t want another faker situation. I caught Mekaneck on sale on BigBadToyStore, and boom, here was my chance

Here was a character that I owned and played with everyday as a child..not only was he cool to imagine a spy, you could also use the action feature to head butt other characters and knock them down. Another memory about this character. The armor was stiff plastic, which was better than the typical rubber armor. But the tabs broke and so my Mekaneck went shirtless a lot. Stinkor’s armor was the same but orange, so you could mix and match

Who is featured on the bottom? Battle Armor He-Man. This makes the second version in the MASTERVERSE line. Tri-Klops. This makes the second version in the MASTERVERSE line. I concede that each version has its strengths, but don’t feel the need for another Tri-Klops. I predict a big clearance on Battle Armor He-Man eventually because of the glut of product out there. Then I will pick up both version. I actually have King Keldor now, and will be posting a review soon.

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PACKAGING NOTES

You can see the packaging art is very nice, and you can see that the blue Road Ripper is featured heavily. Also, whatever species that Clawful is, there are lots of those guys around, so the illustration makes it seem that Mekaneck is spying on their camp. If you read the little bio story, you can see that New Eternia Mekaneck is part of a submarine squadron, a very cool new spin. (This makes the Road Ripper an aquatic vehicle too! Maybe…maybe!!! We can get a MASTERVERSE Road Ripper! How hard could it be?) You can see in the illustration some classic pieces of Castle Grayskull, namely the weapons, and that chest has the same design as the classic trap door.

This is another one of those boxes that is akin to what is going on with Transformers, and I like this very much. It gives more room for story art, and you can see the figure just fine if you wanted to keep them in box. It is also semi-collector friendly. The blister bubble inside isn’t worth much, but the character can stand in there and be seen without it, and there is a storage compartment for accessories to boot.

FIGURE REVIEW

Here is everything you get in the box:

  • alternate fist hands
  • five(!) telescoping neck pieces
  • classic mace, with a new twist (see below)
  • shield featuring the blue Road Ripper

The figure stands well and has very good paint. But something especially striking is the VAC METAL or SHINY FOIL goggles! They can do it here, why not on say…Thunder Punch He-Man? It is notable that this is only on the goggles. The other chrome details on the armor are painted. I like the contrast of the dark “furry shorts” and the green-ish belt. I like the silver straps on the boots also.

ACCESSORIES

The shield has “patina” already on the sticker as a part of the design, which is appreciable. These kinds of stickers wear and fade with age, often showing that white paper backing. So they just built it in to this shield, which is the very opposite of some of the boring shields they have given us on some figures. This shield has a peg instead of a strap, making this the second design like this I have seen. There is hole in the wrist and one on the back of the armor where the shield can go. And like I said, could we get a blue Road Ripper?

And now for the new spin on the mace. This mace is presented as a telescope. This is something that never occurred to me, and I wonder if there was a discarded design precedent in the past for the vintage or 200x line. This mace is in two pieces, so the big diamond-y part can detach just like the head or neck pieces. This will make a great new way to display alternate head sculpts. I didn’t get a photo of it, but the shorter “handle” piece is a convincing telescope by itself.

As you can see above, you can use just one of the neck joints to create a classic vintage feel. Or…

You can go more 200x with this one. And I’m not kidding, if I see Mekaneck on clearance in December or sometime, I am picking up more just to get these neck pieces to play with! So this is a big win, Mattel. Thank you for paying attention to what we probably want.

AND…

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mekaneck and MASTERVERSE Revelation Mer-Man. Mer-Man is wearing Clawful’s alternate armor, and holding Super7 Ultimates! Black Falcon’s bident spear.

yep. You can use the neck pieces to extend the telescope!

SPARTANNERD’S RATING OF MASTERVERSE NEW ETERNIA MEKANECK

Are you kidding me? This is one of the best MASTERVERSE figures. Why did I put off this purchase? I think I have been holding out for Faker or Whiplash.

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mekaneck and Mythic Legions Balthor the Tower Ogre. I wanted to highlight just how tall Mekaneck can be…that is like a nine inch figure! Balthor is armed with McFarlane Toys Raven Spawn’s chain.
PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mekaneck and Man-E-Faces. I am titling this one “Two Wierdos.”

Really the fun doesn’t stop. The figure is sculpted and painted well. The articulation is more than great considering the neck joints. The accessories have been riffed on in the best possible ways. And there is extended funtionality because the end of the telescope can be used to display some of the alternate heads in the future. My rating of this figure is a solid 5/5.

SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review…Animal Warriors of the Kingdom Weapons Loot (gold)

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I ordered the Animal Warriors Of The Kingdom gold weapons loot pack from BigBadToyStore, as I was looking for weapons packs and weapons, weapon racks, and other related items for 6-7 inch scale figures. I was specifically looking for things that were cheap, but probably would work with my growing collection of MASTERVERSE. This weapons pack caught my attention because I thought it might go well with the Super7 Ultimates! Conan the Barbarian: Battle of the Mounds figures and King Conan with the throne of Aquilonia that should be arriving within a couple of months

Animal Warriors Of The Kingdom (AWOK) is a line of action figures by a company, Spero, that I am not very familiar with. There are named characters apparently, but I am unaware of the story at all. In my mind, it’s a little bit like the Mythic Legions, where the figures could be any generic fantasy Idea. Most of these figures look like they fit well with the ThunderCats. There are several different colorways of these weapons, as well as variations of what weapons you can have in a “weapons loot”. It was the gold weapons that stuck out the most to me. Below are pictures of the package.

These weapons came in a wonderful window box…it was really very nice. Maybe I should have videoed this box because it is hard to do justice to the effect of holding it and looking at it. When my wife saw the package, she said “That is a terrific shadowbox.” It’s true. There is an orange Sunburst in the background and the weapons are suspended in a blister that allows light in and shadows to fall behind. It’s a boring window box otherwise, but the main idea here the weapons inside are very apparent. These weapons are just attached in a blister. There is no kind of weapons rack or other storage solution, which is just too bad. (Almost my only complaint!). The character on the back is apparently named “Pale,” (Question? ”pronouced “Pail” or “Peh-Leh?”). which is information readily available if you look at the other offerings from the line. He is some type of simian.

The weapons included are: a large mace similar to some weapons in Elden Ring, a broadsword with a jewel in the hilt (very original), two guns (one a shotgun and the other a muzzle-loader type of pistol…both in the safari hunter style). What first appeared to be two pieces- a scepter/magic staff and a short sword, are actually meant to combine to be a long spear. I suppose you could technically keep them separate. And my favorite…a battle axe.

The SpartanNerd has been working on his photography game little bit. You can see that I have a new light box set up. I’m also working on diorama pieces and so here are weapons racks that I made homemade. I found many of tips on the internet about making weapons racks for G.I. Joe classified guns, and also there are racks available to buy. Mostly these are for guns that come with G.I. Joe classified or Marvel Legends. In my case I want a more barbarian, Masters of the Universe congruent look, so I just made an A-frame similar to what we got with Castle Grayskull in the 1980s, and also a square one similar to the Masters of the Universe Classics version. 

I won’t lie to you. I thought about buying the Classics version again, but there aren’t that many of them out there for sale and what is for sale is well over $50 used. I remember when I had this, I wasn’t that happy with it. It seems to me like I could not get the weapons on there the way I wanted, and sometimes the tight pegs would rub the paint off of the weapons. I resorted to rubber bands on it also. Looking at old pictures of it doesn’t bring back great memories. Why aren’t there more diorama pieces readily available to purchase to help fans like the SpartanNerd and the Hub City Geeks out?

I decided to break out the She-Ra from the San Diego comic con exclusive 200x from I don’t know, 2003 or 2004. I keep her in her window box but take her out on special occasions. Her style of sword and the gold motif on her armor match up very well with Movie He-Man and the golden AWOK sword. Now is a good time to point out that none of these weapons will work with 7-inch scale female figures. In the case of this sword and also the guns below, you feel like the fingers are stretching even on larger hands.

I like characters that are like walking weapon racks. Case in point, Two-Bad here can run with the whole mercenary motif. I need to talk about the size of the handles of these weapons. In order for Two-Bad to hold the rifle, I had to face it into his body first in order to wedge the handle into his fingers, and that twist it around. Even this way that handle is so thick it does not want to give me the desirable Sergeant Slaughter type of pose I would want. These weapons were terrific with other toy lines, case in point the redeemer here holding that golden Mace just seems perfect. (The Redeemer can’t hold the guns. His fingers are too stiff. Too bad, because he only has trigger fingers.)

Vikor fending off a Mythic Legions skeleton army builder. A good test case for a future Conan model. From this picture, don’t you think that the handle looks too big? Because Ultimates Conan figures are basically Masters of the Universe Classics figures, I wonder if there will be drama. This sword looks great otherwise in Vikor’s hand.

I’ve had terrific fun posing and taking pictures of my figures with the Animal Warriors of the Kingdom gold weapons loot set. The weapons look great in the hands of male MASTERVERSE, MOTUC, Mythic Legions, and even Spawn figures. The shadowbox packaging is a neat trick. Be careful with the hands as the handles on some of the weapons are a little thick. I am curious about how well they fit in the hands of the AWOK figures. Spero offers plain army builder figures out there for low prices. Maybe I will get one someday and see. Of more interest to me is the set of armor I saw on Big Bad Toy Store. 

I am rating this set 5/5. The weapons look great and that is really the whole point for me. They can add a new dimension to figures like Two-Bad or Barbarian Skeletor. I don’t warrant subtracting a point about the handles…after all I did get the weapons into the hands of the figures and nothing broke and no paint scratched or peeled off. (But it is worrisome.)

Do you agree with my 5/5 score, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!

SpartanNerd Review…”1602: Witch Hunter Angela Part One”

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Regular readers know that I already reviewed “The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows.”  This book is along the same lines.  A result of the current spin on “Marvel Secret Wars,” “1602…Angela” takes place in an alternate storyline.

Before I write any more, let me explain why I was drawn to picking this title up at “The Tangled Web” on June 13…

Me and Angela go back aways.  I used to read Spawn comics quite a bit.  I don’t own many of those anymore.  But I remember enjoying the story immensely…I couldn’t put it down.  And even recently I read back over “Spawn: The Dark Ages.”  Angela and angels of her ilk were a key component to all of these stories.

In Spawn, the angels were depicted as a group of business women you definitely didn’t want to be your boss.  They worked in a tall skyscraper, and dressed in pants suits or similar…on the high end of the “professional dress” spectrum.  Then, if they suspected a Spawn or other demonic force nearby, the clothes would come off…and wings were revealed, and very very skimpy battle ribbons would be what adorned the woman.  Oh yes.  Generally a huge weapon as well.  These angels were the toughest fight for Spawn.  But Angela was different.  She and Spawn “hit it off.”  A very forbidden relationship came to a head until right at the 100th issue, Angela killed Malebolgia, (basically the devil…but not Satan.)  However, she would be killed as well.  Then Spawn would go downhill and I would stop reading, as McFarlane “jumped the shark,” wanting to take the book into a more “horror” direction.

Similarly, (but not as relevant), Immaculata was the Dark Ages Spawn’s enemy.  As a story told around the same time period as “1602”, there are things that pulled me to purchasing because I read and enjoyed this so much.  Immaculata wasn’t a “business woman,” but a nun.  She was suppressing her angel-ness.  But when Spawn came around, those animal angel instincts awoke…and similar to described above, this terrific warrior appeared in place of the nun.

The angel stories I am recalling here were AWESOME.  Later I would learn there were ownership disputes about Angela between Todd McFarlane and Neil Gaiman.  And I heard nothing more about it for a long time.

In the middle of my reading of “DC New 52,” Marvel come out with “Age of Ultron.”  I didn’t read it.  Ultron rang a bell, as I read “Secret Wars” from the 1980’s.  The final issue had a black bag so you couldn’t see the cover.  It was hiding “Angela”!  Marvel had secured the rights to the character.

The only knowledge about this, besides what I just told you, is that I have seen some Angela titles on the shelves.  I skipped them not, not immersed in Marvel’s ecosystem.  But it is clear that she is “Asgard’s Assassin,” implying to me that she works for Odin, or similar.  (Explaining how she is an angel in a universe not really having a consistent God.  Spawn’s universe eventually, very slowly explained how God’s angels worked.)

All that to say why I was drawn to this story.  I expected the barbary of “Spawn: the Dark Ages” and the awesomeness of Angela, the thing who killed Spawn’s devil.

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The cover art was OK.  Angela here appears Elizabethan but also science fiction.  There were some prettier alternate covers, but since I am not immersed in the Secret Wars, or Marvel’s version of Angela, I skipped those. The cover does show a remnant of McFarlane’s version, in there are those ribbons floating around her.  We see these throughout the comic.  She doesn’t use them for any purpose…they do serve in the place of a halo, I believe.  Though they might have some kind of weaponized use.

The art in this book is inconsistent.  Some of it “old school” Marvel.  Some of it more modern.  Why?I liked it, though.  And here is one of my favorite pieces from the book.  The color scheme reminds me of “Jem and the Rockers.”  Basically, Sarah and Angela are a team of angels hunting “witchbreed.”

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I’ll not show you a picture, but just let me say that one of the witchbreed has claws like Wolverine!  Maybe it is that she is hunting mutants…

Angela describes Sarah and themselves as “Angels of Doom.”  Throughout the book, where God’s name would probably be mentioned, instead we hear “Doom.”  This echoes the larger Secret Wars story, where we are told that Victor Von Doom is “god and master.”

Because this book just came out, I am blurring the words here.  But this is one of my favorite pieces of art from the book, right near the end.

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Basically, Sarah has been cursed.  And so the lead-in to a larger story.

SpartanNerd’s rating of “1602: Witch Hunter Angela.”  Well, did this story meet my expectations?

This is a dark story, with two brutal killings and Sarah being cursed.  It kept me reading…I read it three times to be sure I got it all.  There is a lot here.  I still have some questions.

I’m confused.  Who is Kit Marlow?  Was that Shakespeare of Marlow?  Why is there someone with glasses…glasses weren’t invented for two hundred years….Is there more implied in this story than the reader can just see?  Sarah’s flashback led us to believe that she was training to be a warrior, and not a lady…though her words said otherwise.

The art was good, but varied in style.  There is more than one artist on this book…they need to work to smooth it out.  I enjoyed the “Jem” color scheme.  And the more modern “muted” look as well.  But the two styles are jarring when going from one place to another.

I think I will read part two, which will come out on July 29, evidently…according to the last page.  The book is going to feature the Guardians of the Galaxy in the next issue, it seems.

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I think I will read it.

The SpartanNerd rates “1602: Witch Hunter Angela” at 3/5.  While I have plenty of complaints and questions, I have read it over three times.  And am curious about what will happen next.  Angela (and Sarah) gets a point for coolness anyway.

Do you agree or disagree?  Let me know in the comments, oh Hub City Geeks!