LNH/REVIEW: Kid Review's Roundup: January 2014

[Andrew Perron]

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PREHISTORIC PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

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 ><><><> | <><><><  || By:     Andrew     Perron ||  ><><><> | <><><><
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In This Issue:

    The Continentals (January)
    Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade That Will Probably Never Have an
Ending #1-3
    Mighty Medley #1
    Powernaut 1968 #1-4
    Ripping Off King Arthur #145-156

Also Posted:

    All-New Legion of Net.Heroes #3
    Chevalier: The Queen's Mouseketeer (January)
    Cover Gallery #14i
    Godling #36
    Godling's World #5-6

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"Late on this one too; ah, well, I'll start next month's early if I can!"

The Continentals (January)
A webcomic [WWW] series
by Darryl Hughes and Monique MacNaughton

"Since last time, we've seen the mysterious Mangler revealed as the product
of two brothers and a dose of very Victorian mad science, including a very
liberal interpretation of Darwin's theories, highly dubious but very
19th-century opinions on mental health, and some good old-fashioned 'your
theories are too radical' from the old men at the Institute."

"My biggest concern from last time is allayed here; the expressions fit
well with the art and story. Not much to say about this, except that it's
quite efficient at combining Victorian fiction tropes at a steady pace."

Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade That Will Probably Never Have an Ending
#1-3
Untitled, Untitled, and "Battle For the Very Small Thing"
A Classic Legion of Net.Heroes [LNH] chaotic add-on cascade
by Arthur Spitzer, Scott Eiler, and Andrew Perron

"What the Heck Is This: Ah! A classic LNH cascade of the old school, where
one writer posts an opening chapter and others add on to it as they will.
In this case, an offhand comment by me resulted in Arthur bringing one of
his old characters back and pulling an AU character into the main
continuity, spurred by a cosmic event - caused by the LNH writers not
finishing their goshdarn storylines! This is definitely not like 90% my
fault specifically."

"I was worried that this one's title would turn out to be self-fulfilling,
but thankfully, people seem to have picked it up and run with it. I'm
really enjoying this (working on another chapter now!), and I'm hoping it
can serve as a collective kick in the rear to get stuff finished. (SO MUCH
STUFF.)"

Mighty Medley #1
"Open Letter", "Terror of the Tribots!", "Beyond the Fields" Part 1, and
"Up To Their Necks In It"
An Eightfold [8FOLD] anthology
by Andrew Perron, Tom Russell, and Saxon Brenton

"What the Heck Is This: A new ongoing anthology series for one-page-long
stories set in the Eightfold universe."

"I am determined to contribute to every universe on RACC, mwahaha." 

"The idea for this anthology is one I love, especially since it pushes
everyone involved towards writing more consistently - very important. Tom's
little summaries for each story are great. 'On
the perils of cross-ocean jogging, especially for the clumsy.' is my
favorite bit, I think."'

"As for the stories themselves: 'Terror of the Tribots' is a
straightforward superhero story, supercompressed via the super-speed of its
main character. It has a characterization-y undercurrent (heh) that I
would've liked to see get a bit more attention, but, y'know, restrictive
formats."

"Part One of 'Beyond the Fields' is an intriguing one. Unlike many serials
that try to pour themselves into a certain size limit, Saxon knows exactly
where to leave off to make this chapter feel like a complete piece of the
puzzle. I'm left wanting to know much more."

"Finally, 'Up To Their Necks In It' is a characterization piece starring
Quasha and Danalee from Orphans of Mars. I really appreciate this; giving
these characters a moment of downtime, a bit to breathe away from the
pressures of survival, really helps flesh them out, makes it so you can
feel their struggles elsewhere more deeply. Plus, poo!"

Powernaut 1968 #1-4
"The New Look", "You Defile the Real Powernaut!", "What If I Go Find Him?",
and "Powernaut to Laos!"
A Superhuman World [SW10/WWW] webcomic
by Scott Eiler

"Powernaut's 1968 series sees a new Powernaut showing up, getting his power
thru a psychedelic groove. S.O.S., one of Powernaut's previous associates,
objects to this new version, and explains that the original isn't dead, but
lost - resulting in the new Powernaut going on a trip through the far
reaches of the human psyche to find him!"

"This feels like a natural progression towards a Kirby-cosmic-inspired
story, as Hypergaard promises to be. Which is surprising, since Scott
indicated that this was a significant change in plans - but then, the
original plan apparently involved something Galactus-esque, which itself
would be a pretty dang natural way to go Kirby-cosmic."

"When I responded to this originally, I noted that the explicit references
to drug use didn't seem very 1968, but Scott noted that it fit well with
indie comix of the time, and the fictional publisher of Powernaut was one
of the lower-tier ones who would be willing to try out a turn in that
direction. Makes sense to me, especially since Dave used a similar
explanation back in the day for the Darkshield stories, which featured the
patriotic hero getting duped by the Commie villain."

Ripping Off King Arthur #145-156
A webcomic [WWW] series
by Arthur Spitzer

"The incredibly weird and very meta Rippy Offy Unbound storyline concludes.
Doctor Deadbeat and Gerardo Gila must stand and watch as Max Ruetra's bed,
possessing Max Ruetra's body, attempts to free the sentient webcomic Rippy
Offy - only for Rippy Offy to end up with both the body and the freedom!"

"It's interesting. The storyline - especially the last strip, with Doctor
Deadbeat - feels like a Crisis-level story that's going on in the
background, where the other characters can't see. It reminds me of
Morrison's 'Second Crisis' storyline in the pages of Animal Man. This is
going to Lead Places, and I'm looking forward to it."

"Speaking of other characters, we then jump to Grenadine Luncher's High
School Reunion. Pope Lizardsaurus is in a Belgian jail for unexplained
reasons, and Ax Fight Dude has to take Ms. Luncher to her Class of '94
reunion - where everything is trying to kill her!"

"My favorite part of this is easily the fact that Ax Fight Dude is a
character woefully unsuited for the sitcom-esque plot of a boobytrapped
high school reunion. It's great to see characters put in the 'wrong' genre
and see how they react."

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, whereas Beige Countdown is more like
the Brotherhood of Dada storyline in Doom Patrol