LNH/REVIEW: Kid Review's Roundup: November 2013

[Andrew Perron]

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PREHISTORIC PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

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 ><><><> | <><><><  ||      November  2013       ||  ><><><> | <><><><
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 ><><><> | <><><><  || By:     Andrew     Perron ||  ><><><> | <><><><
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In This Issue:
    Cover Gallery #9i-10i, #12i
    Godling #34
    Me 2003, Wave 2 #2a
    Orphans of Mars #5-6
    Orphans of Mars Fact File v1.0
    Powernaut 1966 #5-9
    Ripping Off King Arthur #134-142
    You Pay The Cabbie

Also Posted:
    Chevalier: The Queen's Mouseketeer (November)
    The Continentals (November)
    Cover Gallery #11i
    Godling's World #2
    The Green Lampoon
    One-Page Giant #3

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Cover Gallery #9i-#10i, #12i
A Classic Legion of Net.Heroes [LNH] series
by Saxon Brenton

"Huzzahs and hoorays! I've recruited a third writer to the ranks of 
Cover Gallery. Saxon's covers are all over the map; one spinning off a 
plot point in his own series, one playing off that time I contradicted 
him in the pages of Just Imagine, moohahaha, and one of a more 
esoteric, physics-and-Australian-history-based nature. Spiffing."

Godling #34
"TRAUMATIC STRESS"
A Miscellaneous [MISC] series
by Jochem Vandersteen

"What the Heck Is This: The adventures of Professor Quentin Alexander, 
AKA the glorious Godling, empowered by the Olympian gods to fight 
injustice!"

"Last issue, police sergeant Wade Hudson started using a special suit 
of power armor, and totally coincidentally, started acting irrationally 
and aggressively. This issue, Quentin goes to see Wade, and he (Wade, 
that is) starts freaking out when confronted with evidence that he hit 
his wife. Then nastybad recurring villain Cecrops attacks, and Wade 
goes into full-out police brutality mode."

"I mentioned last issue that Godling's World #1 felt a bit flavorless. 
Thankfully, the main series doesn't share that problem - Godling's 
soap-opera-60s-Marvel-y world provides all the flavor you could want. 
There's action, interpersonal conflict, and a touch of comedy. (There's 
also Wade calling women 'bitch' a lot, but he's a jerk so it's okay?)"

"Also, even though I'm not actually reviewing Godling's World #2, I 
wanted to note that it was better than the first one. It has this nice 
dry sense of humor that really sparkles once you get used to it."

Me 2003, Wave 2 #2a
"Four Heroes, Part 2"
A Superhuman World [SW10] story {HCC40}
by Scott Eiler

"In the all-new next chapter to last month's classic adventure, a 
tornado whips up in the middle of the fancy party. But it's not just 
any tornado - it's a Reality Storm! Ellipsis, Captain Mighty, Roxanne 
Scott and Wyatt Ferguson must save the world, even though Wyatt would 
really rather not!"

"This was written in response to last month's review, and I could not 
feel more chuffed. (The good chuffed, not the bad chuffed.) Scott 
follows up last time's setup with a fascinating tale that sheds 
confusing light on the nature of the Powernaut. It also lays out the 
different philosophies of this world's Big Three; the Powernaut, who 
confronts trouble when it appears, Ellipsis, who wishes to control 
trouble, and Wyatt, who tries to stay out of trouble but reports on it 
either way. Good job! Have a cookie."

Orphans of Mars #5-6
"Sisters of Battle" and "Let the Dawn Decide!"
An Eightfold [8FOLD] series
by Tom Russell

"In these issues, Jarrissy, great warrior, dies; Quasha, proud warrior, 
dies; Quasha, shamed warrior, lives; and Nerrine, Imperiatrix of Earth 
Colony, wins, but only for now."

"This series becomes deeper and more interesting the more we're allowed 
access into these characters' heads. I'd no longer call it 'bleak', for 
that implies an impossibility of hope; there is hope here, but it must 
be forced into existence, not by strength of muscle, but by strength of 
will set to the singular goal of creating a future."

Orphans of Mars Fact File v1.0
An Eightfold [8FOLD] informational piece
by Tom Russell

"What the Heck Is This: A guide to the setting of Orphans of Mars, with 
special attention paid to the history of Mars, the culture and 
physiology of the Daughters, and the establishment of Earth Colony."

"This document reveals a lot of what was only implied or gestured at in 
the series proper (and in its beginnings in Journey Into #12). It's 
very helpful in understanding some of the more complex aspects of the 
series; indeed, I'd suggest a spoiler-free version for new readers."

"There are a lot of really interesting worldbuilding ideas here; for 
instance, that there were two *different* species whose sterile hybrids 
became the persecuted underclass. (It's especially interesting because 
in our world's horrifying examples of offspring becoming ready-
manufactured slaves, the upper-class recipient of slave labor doesn't 
actually give birth to them, and can remain at a cool, unsympathetic 
distance. How much more coolness, then, must the Mothers have 
cultivated to let this go on?)"

"And, wow, speaking of bleakness - the summary of the war that 
destroyed Mars is a tale of grinding slow self-destruction, attrition, 
and genocide. Sweet Christmas. I have to wonder - were both species 
labeled Mothers, or am I misunderstanding? (I also admit a curiosity as 
to what the actual process of reproduction is with these hermaphroditic 
species, especially if they were as close to human as the Daughters 
are.)"

"In short, absolutely essential if you're interested in the series, and 
quite interesting even if you're not."

Powernaut 1966 #5-9
"Secret ROYALIST French NAZIS!", "Boy King Escaping!", "Ulp!", "I Have 
To Stop That Thing! Some How", and "The Man From P.O.W.E.R.N.A.U.T. 
Dove at the Solarian!"
A Superhuman World [SW10] story
by Scott Eiler

"These issues conclude the 1966 story arc. After Aryan Man reappears as 
the Aryan Skull (nice), the boy-king Louis XIX activates his Secret 
Weapon - a Solarian! Then things get weird, as this cosmic energy being 
isn't the same one the Powernaut faced on Mars, and then the plane's 
motor is a Pentahedron somehow, and the Powernaut faces off against the 
Solarian and, much like in Me 2003, disappears. Things end on an 
ambiguous note, and an exhortation to carry on!"

"This is another fascinatingly weird one. It's actually rather basic 
plotwise, but the implications of what happens are large and strange. 
The Powernaut is rather good at that, his cheery, guileless manner 
effortlessly carrying fractal time and strange implications."

Ripping Off King Arthur #134-142
A webcomic [WWW] series
by Arthur Spitzer

"This month, the wrongness keeps ramping up. Rippy Offy's strangeness 
evolves into full-blown Uncanny. Dr. Deadbeat decides to do something 
other than drink all the time. And the metafiction takes full form, as 
Gerardo Gila reveals that they're all imprisoned - in a webcomic! It's 
pretty interesting and I don't have much else to say about it, other 
than that the ramping up is effective."

"I do have one other comment, though. This month's Phnne Ot Im Frdayys 
are both consciously pushing against the format, one involving the 
narrator attempting to tell a story that isn't related to the images, 
the other actually producing a joke that fits the format perfectly. 
And, of course, Arthur has figured out the ultimate workaround: If you 
don't have a joke for it, just don't publish a strip on Friday."

You Pay The Cabbie
A Miscellaneous [MISC] story
by Dave Van Domelen

"A short-n-sweet horror story of the kind favored by Tales From the 
Crypt and similar publications. And, much like the best of those, it's 
a quick read that builds relentlessly to the twist - obvious from line 
one, but the sucker in the seat didn't know that, and their horrified 
reaction is what's important. Ahhhhh, delicious."

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, and now I've written these all in 
one night. Good for me!