“Hanna Barbera Future Quest” #1 and 2
(DC Comics, August and September 2016)
Writer: Jeff Parker
Many children watching television cartoons such as “The Herculoids”, “Mightor” and “Space Ghost” in the early and mid-1970s must have fantasised about the prospect of these characters, and more, interacting within the same continuity. In that regard, writer Jeff Parker is playing in the fields of imagination of tens of thousands of kids across the world in writing this series.
“She Wolf – Spell Number One: Shapeshifting”
(Image Comics, June 2016)
Writer: Rich Tommaso
This comic is something more than a suburban tale of teenage witchcraft, but it is hard to define what that advancement on such a well-worked concept is.
“She Wolf” is a story about a teenager living near a place called Tomahawk Lake and attending Sparta High School. The North American location is not otherwise described but it is all suggestive of a semi-rural location, an ordinary American town located near the woods. The teenager, Gabby, bears scars down her face. These are apparently the consequence of being raked by a werewolf named Brian, a classmate.
“Joyride” #1 (of 4) (review)
Boom! Studios, April 2016
Writer: Jackson Lanzig and Collin Kelly
On the face of it, this title is an adolescent science fiction story, a heist, a youthful expression of defiance. It is almost shallow. But there are some shadows amidst the stardust.
A young girl named Uma convinces a boy named Dewydd to get her past the fascist gatekeepers manning a weapon on the moon which is aimed at the world. All citizens of the planet are in an Orwellian yoke where happiness and calm are mandated. Uma has made contact with an alien who has agreed to collect her and her friend from the dark side of the moon. The alien turns out to be a slaver. But she has subverted the alien’s enforcer, a black shapeshifting robot called D.Bot. The evil alien is jettisoned into space, presumably to his death, and Uma is left with the universe to explore and the means to do it. The three are actually a foursome, for there is also a fascist soldier, named Catrin, who has inadvertently joined the crew and is in the early stages of Stockholm Syndrome as a consequence of exposure to free-thinking.
Imaginary Stocks To Buy
An investment review of the fictional corporations of comic books and manga
DG Stewart, 18 July 2016
In 2011, Forbes, a business magazine, listed the twenty-five fictional companies out of the realm of comic books and manga, there were only three that made the cut in Forbes’ list:
a. Wayne Enterprises (published by DC Comics), partly-owned by Bruce Wayne (also known as Batman), worth $31.3 billion and number 11 on the list
b. Stark Industries (published by Marvel Comics), partly owned by technological savant Iron Man (Tony Stark), at number 16 on the list, worth $20.3 billion
c. Oscorp, owned by one of Spider-Man’s many adversaries (published by Marvel Comics) valued at a mere $3.1 billion and ranked at number 23 on the list.
But this review omitted many companies that would be worthy of investment if they were actually in existence. Some of these are very large indeed and would appear to be trading very profitably by one means or another.
The list below assumes that you have an appetite for investing in weapons manufacturers and high tech companies. If you are looking to diversify your imaginary stock portfolio into agribusiness or into property developers, then this selection of fictional corporate behemoths probably is not for you.