Freakazoid: The Odd Hero

It makes sense, that cartoon is something of an acquired taste. It was like a superhero version of Animaniacs with all of the Warner brothers—and Warner sister—in one person. On top of that, Freakazoid never really did much you’d associate with superheroes.

Sure, he had the powers, the super speed, and ran around in his underwear, but his confrontations with villains often ended with them being annoyed to insanity or bumbling their way into an arrest. Plus, his villains never really required that much effort to begin with.

Obviously, Freakazoid was a parody of superhero comics and cartoons. There were several super toons out at the time: Batman, Spider-Man, X-Men, the really fun Swamp Thing show, and the really mediocre Fantastic 4/Iron Man series over on UPN. But what if Freakazoid was introduced into the DC comic book universe?

No One Wants A Freakazoid Comic

Just hear me out! Freakazoid came out in 1995 and ran until 1997. In that time, the series didn’t get a comic book. It was a show owned by Warner Brothers which owns DC Comics. Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, and The Simpsons are all cartoons that got their own comic book runs. So, why not Freakazoid?

One reason is that it didn’t have a long run or anything. Still, there have been cartoons that got action figures off of few seasons. As a matter of fact, those cartoons were made purely to advertise the action figures! Freakazoid didn’t get any merchandise. Biker Mice from Mars got action figures, a video game, and a reboot.

Now, I’m not one to throw Biker Mice from Mars under the bus (Bucky O’Hare was better) but if they could get merch, surely Freakazoid could’ve gotten a standalone comic at least. No, he should’ve been a hero in the DC comic book universe. It would’ve been like if DC’s Captain Marvel swapped brains with Deadpool if it ran today.

In the 1990s, it would’ve been pretty much in line with the rest of DC animation’s comic book series. Endless wackiness and storylines that didn’t really go anywhere but what if he was introduced in this decade—well, it’s a wrap now—through one of the several universe shake-ups the publisher has had since its start?

If an intentionally annoying character like Deadpool can have dedicated comic, spin-offs, and a fanbase, I believe Freakazoid could pull it off. That is, if he’s introduced right and isn’t made into someone like…Sentry. Just all of the power and little of the “Wow, I’d read a full series on just this character”-factor.

I’m Serious

Put my man Freakazoid in DC Comics. He doesn’t need a whole comic; I’d settle for anything more than a cameo. Put in the Justice League. Yes, the Justice League, an organization—like the Avengers—with more members than there are Wu-Tang affiliates.

I want him mixed in so well with the comic book universe that we’ll have to get an edgelord grimdark version of him by Frank Miller with Rob Liefeld doing the art. Then everyone will be slack jawed once they get an Eisner Award for the mini-series Freakazoid Offline.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

First of all, What is a Yandere?

A yandere refers to a person who introduces themselves as loving, gentle and kind when they in fact become mentally unstable when it comes to their romantic interest or other object of their affection. Yandere is derived from Japanese words ‘yanderu’, meaning ‘to be sick’, and ‘deredere’ meaning ‘love-struck’. Most of them are possessive and obsessive over their romantic interest, are exceptionally jealous, emotionally aggressive and brutally violent. The term is typically used in anime, manga and light novels to refer to a character archetype or as a fictional trope. Although yanderes tend to always be assumed as female, male versions do exist and they aren’t any different from their feminine counterparts.

1: Noel Gautier

In the first instalment of the anthology, Noel is the male lead who is shown as a rather timid, quiet and ‘soft’ character. He does not express his thoughts outwardly but when he does, it is through his actions and not always his words. In one panel, he offers to use his hobby – cooking – to express his affection towards his romantic interest, Alicia.

Throughout the short story, Noel doesn’t do anything remotely like a yandere would. The only taste of a yandere we get are two or three panels where his facial expression shifts from shy and cute to unsettling. Another example was how he helped Alicia’s sister steal her fiancé so he could have Alicia for himself. Even then, that didn’t feel like he was acting out as an unstable, love-struck man but as someone taking advantage of a situation in order to shoot his shot with the girl he has always liked. There are yandere characters out there who hide their true feelings behind the shy act – just like Yuri from Doki Doki Literature Club – but unlike her, Noel doesn’t cross over to an obsessive or possessive extreme.

2: Alber Jeniess Zeckelm

The second anthology story is somewhat mediocre, so a proper, strong opinion can’t be given about the characters – even so, Alber is not much of a yandere. He met Lucia when they were both children and almost immediately, he offered to kill her family before mumbling about wanting to kidnap her. Which, to be fair, does qualify as a mental issue for a literal child to say that – whether it was because he fell for her at first sight or not is uncertain.

Unfortunately, that idea falls apart after the characters are older. Alber no longer speaks the way he did when he was a child – threatening murder and all – and actually chooses to maturely propose marriage to Lucia in order to remove her from her abusive family’s custody. After that Alber punishes Lucia’s family for abusing her with, lawful, imprisonment with Lèse-majesté (the crime for insulting royalty) as an additional charge for insulting the prince – him. In the end, Alber gets to be with the woman he loves and Lucia gets to escape abuse and live a comfortable, loving life. Not sure where the violence and insanity is when the story sounded suspiciously like a retelling of Cinderella.

3: Cedric

Out of all three of the so-called yandere, Cedric from the third anthology story made the most sense to be classified as a one.

The short story takes place in 20^th century France where the commoner people will use any chance to abuse a noble. And that is what happens to the female lead, Noella, who has been forced to work as a maid after her noble family lost all their wealth. It is in the mansion she works at that she meets the male lead, Cedric, who disguised himself as a servant to keep an eye on her. On top of that, he even had people spy on her and report everything she had said and done throughout the day to him, whilst acting like a secret admirer and sending her flowers and letters every week.

At first, Cedric seems like the overprotective, gentlemanly type. But the more you read the story, an eery feeling slowly creeps up. And lo and behold, we find out that Cedric fell in love with Noella when she was around 13 years old whilst he was around 17 – based off a flashback panel where a younger her is seated on an older him’s lap.

Now what all these short anthology stories have in common is how they have the romantic interests play off the yandere male lead like his actions meant nothing. Which seems to make sense since the male leads really aren’t doing anything extreme and violent enough to classify them as yanderes and warrant the ladies or those around them to be worried or scared. Another strong give away is how the title of the anthology series clearly states, “obsessive” duke and not “yandere” duke, but those who have read the series have broadcasted the misconception that the men are in fact yandere.

Cedric is a slightly different story, but even he can be brushed off by some readers with a “Based on the story’s era and setting, it makes sense why he is the kind of man he is”. Nonetheless, these men honestly aren’t that bad; they are only drawn with scary facial expressions and say creepy statements that they later in the story don’t actually act on, making them NOT yandere at all… at least not in the conventional sense of the term.

Staff Writer; Fadzai Nyamande

A South African who brings her love for fiction, manga, and storytelling into every piece she creates. Her writing is shaped by imagination, curiosity, and a true appreciation for the worlds stories can build.

Feel free to drop a note at; FadzaiN@AfroGamers.com.

The question falls apart once Kengo is mentioned. Depending on you ask, Kengo is either truly amazing in how realistic it is or really boring in how overly realistic it is. I’m in the first camp but we’re talking about the most samurai game that would be fun to roughly anyone. Not the most Dark Souls of samurai games.

A Tale of Two Clans

That’s where we get to Way of the Samurai on the Playstation 2. It came out in 2003 and had you take the role of a ronin who arrives in a small town facing change as the new, foreign-influenced government rolls in. Yes, we’re out of the Tokugawa Era and now we’re in the Meiji Era. It’s 1878 and Japan has been opened.

There are two main factions fighting for power in the area, the Kurou Clan, lead by Tesshin Kurou, has had power for years and wants to hold on against the new government. The problem is that the new government, heavily influenced by western innovation and culture, have the advantage in weaponry.

To prevent loses, the Kurou opt to sell the iron foundry in the area but have to deal with the villagers who won’t leave. Mind you, it looks like everyone already bounced outside a few villagers and the rival clans. The village is bare, just about devoid of life and its just weird how the Kurou assaults the few folks still left.

The other clan is the Akadama Clan was formed by the illegitimate son of Kurou’s leader. Young and hotted, Kitcho wants to defeat the Kurou whom he can feels are traitors and smash the Meiji government. Tall orders right? Especially when your base of operations is a near ghost town where the population is mainly split between your two clans!

Where It Shines

There are two areas where Way of the Samurai shines. The first is the gameplay, it’s a straight up slash ‘em up action game. In some ways its similar to Samurai Warriors or Dynasty Warriors only you’re not mashing square over and over until its time to pop a Musou attack and clear the room. Instead, it’s a not-as-flashy version of the Warriors approach and it works since you’re not fighting on wide battlefields.

It’s also cool that you collect swords from fallen foes and can have them improved. Of course, since you only have a handful time to make money to do this. Also, you can only have two or three swords at a time. Swords gained can dull and break, losing their effectiveness.

The other area where Way of the Samurai shines is the story. Depending on your actions the game can take several different paths for six endings. You can avoid conflict and just leave Rokkotsu Pass without becoming involved or removing your sword. You’re also able to pick one of the clans or side with the villagers–all four of them.

From there, depending on how you carry out certain missions for the faction or what time of day that you run into main characters, the story can branch off. Character deaths also play a role in how the story unfolds. Way of the Samurai was pretty much ahead of other games in this respect.

Verdict

The glaring flaw with Way of the Samurai is that you only have two days of story. This changes with the sequels but this game gives you a little time to do quite a bit of story. On one hand, there’s not really much going on in Rokkotsu Pass because there’s no villagers. On the other, there’s a lot going on, you just showed up at the tail end of everything.

The bright side to this limitation is that it cuts down on the whole “I’m just gonna run around aimlessly!” style of plan. Some love that, I’m not a fan of it and it’s boring to watch and do. Doing that in Samurai and the game is over before you know it.

That aside, the actual combat is very solid, allowing for heated duels and intense melees. It’s a combat mechanic that totally works. Definitely pick up Way of the Samurai if you can. It’s available on PSP and you’ll have to hunt for it Amazon or eBay–where it’s most likely worth more than it was at launch.

Rating: 7 out 10 (Recommended)

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Tongari Boushi no Atelier, or Witch Hat Atelier, is a Japanese animated series (an anime) that started airing in April 2026. Produced by BUG FILMS, it took approximately 3 and a half years for the adaptation process of the manga, of the same name, to be completed before its premier. The hype following the announcement and release of the series was to be expected considering how the manga received critical acclaim after winning the Best Manga Award of 2025 at the 37^th Harvey Awards – outshining even One Piece.

Because of this, it felt only right to watch and review whether the anime lives up to the standards of the manga it is based on. It has already been a couple of weeks since Witch Hat Atelier came out, but it is never too late to express your thoughts on something that directly captures your attention when it does. This review only looks at the first episode of the anime because first impressions always matter.

Summary and Analysis

Overall, the plot of Witch Hat Atelier features a little girl named Coco who aspires to become a witch due to her immense love and admiration for the art of magic. Unfortunately, in the world she lives in, only those born and blessed with magical powers can be witches. All of this comes to head when Coco, after seeing a witch named Mr. Qifrey use magic, discovers all she needs to wield the mysterious and alluring power is a pen and a casting seal. From then onwards, adventure and intrigue ensues.

The series opens with our main character, Coco, questioning in a neutral tone whether the identities every person adopts is inherently known – thereafter she answers herself by stating how “These things aren’t decided at birth”. This opening scene already speaks to what kind of person Coco is. It insinuates that she is perceptive about the world and realistic about what she can be and cannot be even though she has an intense desire to become something she admires. Her optimism, however, almost attempts to blindside the viewers and have her appear as ignorant and naïve about how the world worked – even though that is not the case. We can see this in a flashback when her mother explains why and how she could not be a witch, leaving her disheartened, only for the next scene to be Coco enthusiastically trying to cast a spell whilst role-playing a witch. These scenes of the episode did well in revealing the duality of her character.

The overall mood of the episode is relatively down-to-earth. It is calming in a sense whereby we as the viewers are getting to know the characters, especially our main character. We can feel this mood shift when Coco tells the story of the time she met a “witch in a mask”. The change is not drastic, but there is something about the way Mr. Qifrey contemplates Coco’s story that gives it a sense of foreboding. Another scene in the episode that gave off this feeling is when Coco began experimenting with the pen and casting spells from the book. Just watching this scene would put any adult with a child on high alert because Coco, a 10 or so year old child, is evidently ignorant on how magic worked and the potential scale of its destructive power. The episode did well is setting up these shifts in tone and mood as the viewers can now anticipate how the upcoming episodes can make them feel and whether or not they are willing to go through that.

Another noteworthy aspect is the recurring image of the book. Not just the book Coco got from the masked witch but throughout the episode – from the start with Coco’s monologue to the end where the episode ends with a shot of a book’s page flipping to the next. This recurrence obviously points to the masked witch and how them giving Coco the book of spells started the whole story, but it can also symbolise a newfound knowledge and experience. In the series’ case, that is the recurring image of the book symbolises Coco’s new enlightenment into the world she had always dreamed of experiencing. That is why the episode ending with a page turning signifies a new set of ideas and understanding that Coco is about to acquire about the “mysterious and sparkly, valuable and pretty” world of magic.

Animation and Voice Acting

The animation style is nothing short of breath-taking. It is smooth in the way the characters move in the settings they are in and how natural and realistic these movements are. The scene where Coco cuts a piece of fabric for Mr. Qifrey directly captures how delicate and precise the animators of the episode (and perhaps series) were in every frame they animated.

The only downside – but not too much of a downside – is the voice-acting in the series. This judgement is specific to the Japanese voice-acting. There is nothing bad about it, but there is nothing special either. It almost felt as though it was done to serve a purpose; the script said Coco needs to be happy, so the voice actor spoke in a happy voice; the script said Mr. Qifrey needs to be carefree, so the voice actor used a light-hearted tone in their speech. Not to diminish the work put into bringing the characters personalities to life, however the voice acting can be praised in the same light as some other anime already out there.

Closing Words

In closing, the series is a definite watch, especially if you are interested in fantasy, magic and adventure. The medieval fantasy aesthetic makes it even more appealing to watch, and it really gives off the vibe that the anime takes place in an alternate world where magic is part of people’s everyday lives though strictly observed by the witches who can use it. Which makes it even more exciting for what’s to come in the following episodes regarding the worldbuilding and magical systems put in place.

So, if you are a blatant fan of the Harry Potter franchise, The Lord of the Rings trilogy or literally any isekai anime with magic and overpowered characters, then Tongari Boushi no Atelier is without doubt made for you.

Staff Writer; Fadzai Nyamande

A South African who brings her love for fiction, manga, and storytelling into every piece she creates. Her writing is shaped by imagination, curiosity, and a true appreciation for the worlds stories can build.

Feel free to drop a note at; FadzaiN@AfroGamers.com.

Now, the prices for a tape featuring two episodes were always dicey but you were guaranteed to find something you’d dig. Flipping through it, I noticed a lot of classic mecha series.

Mecha are the anime, manga, and video games involving giant robots that can either be piloted from inside or controlled. Usually, the series are sci-fi in nature but things have been mixed up and new concepts have been explored.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at big three pioneers of mecha anime and manga.

Voltron (1984)

This franchise holds a very legit claim to being the best of the classic mecha franchises. This franchise was just satisfying to watch. It wasn’t overly complex, too violent, or even too lengthy.

I’m not a big fan of monster-of-the-week writing but it worked with Voltron. This was like an animated version of Power Rangers which began airing a few years before Voltron.

Another thing that works for Voltron is that this is mecha in a sci-fantasy setting. It’s like if you mixed Power Rangers with Star Wars when the back story comes into play.

Of course, anime that was broadcast don’t really hit story-wise when you’re ten. You’re just looking at the cool fights, suits, and robots, really.

Robotech (1985)

Now Robotech and Voltron aren’t as old as pioneers such as Mazinger Z or Gigantor but it is one of those series that pioneered mecha in the West.

This was thanks to anime’s best friends during expansion and exposure: dubbing and broadcast television. Dubbing—replacing the audio of exported content with that of the import market—wasn’t that great in the late 80s and into the early 00s.

However, just the idea that this was some new, fresh content in the West was enough for Robotech to catch on. It’s military-focused but it’s also a space opera with half of it being about the protagonist doing his duty and protecting the woman he loves only for it to no be reciprocated.

Of the three mentioned series, Robotech kind of sits in the middle. It’s not as action-heavy and fast-paced as Voltron tends to be but it doesn’t move at a slower pace like our next entry often does.

Also, lore-wise, Robotech isn’t as technical as our third franchise but it explains more than Voltron usually did. Progression-wise, this series moved along well and ran in chronological order.

Which is different from the third and final series on this list.

Gundam (1979)

This is such a hard series to explain. Gundam does a lot. It’s a long-running series which predates Robotech and Voltron by a few years but comes over a decade after Gigantor.

Like Robotech, Gundam is a space opera obsessed with a lot of lore and timeline events. Unfortunately, the franchise is fractured into multiple series taking place in different timelines or even different worlds.

As I said, this is a franchise that is hard to explain. Some of the series are sequels or prequels of others while some are standalone series. Then you have a series like G Gundam which kind of steps away from the slower-paced high drama of the franchise into straight-up shonen territory.

On the one hand, I’d say this is to be expected if a franchise has run as long as Gundam and needs to freshen things up for a while. I don’t know if this was the right direction but I enjoyed it!

For the most part, you could get someone into Voltron or even Robotech. As a matter of fact, Robotech is offered on most streaming platforms and for free on Crackle.

Gundam is a harder series to get people into. It really depends on if you introduce them to the more modern stuff, the late anime boom stuff like Gundam Wing and G Gundam, or take them back to the throwbacks.

It’s a gamble because Gundam’s pace is such that if the series you picked for someone to watch doesn’t stick, it’s going to be hard to suggest more Gundam. At that point, you’re just pushing it.

Bonus Classic Mecha Anime: Gigantor (1963)

Gigantor is pretty much the godfather of modern mecha anime. It’s old school as hell, black and white, and features a super simplistic storyline from episode to episode.

When I first saw it, it was more for historical purposes. Watching the series years later and I don’t care for it, to be honest. This is not a fun series to sit through.

That’s hard for me to say because I’ve sat through and enjoyed Astro Boy which was released around the same time. There’s just something I can’t get into with the original Gigantor.

I will say that this was a big broadcast for me since I heavy into finding the origins of certain genres in music, comics, and animation.

Seeing the birth of so many tropes is why I enjoy watching Kinnikuman and Fist of the North Star so much. Once Toriyama took from those two series to make Dragon Ball manga history was made.

That could be the thing. I went in thinking I’d witness the same thing in Gigantor that was inspire Gundam, Robotech, and Voltron. I guess that would be the case if those series were heavily in the old 1940s Danger Boy and Mystery Lad novels vein like Gigantor.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Following this train of thought, we are going to discuss the recurring types of evil sisters who keep sweeping across multiple manhwa and manga today, as well as identifying whether there are any that exploit the trope interestingly.

The ‘steal your fiancé’ Evil Sister

This type of evil sister is quite self-explanatory from the title alone, as her main objective for part of or throughout the story is to steal her own sibling’s fiancé – or in the words of historical romances, her betrothed. There can be different reasons for why the antagonistic sister finds the need to do this, except her expressed feelings on the matter always have to do with hating her sister. One reason for the hate can be the evil sister feeling inferior to her ‘good’ sister. For example, in My Sister Covets My Fiancé, Katherine feels threatened by her little sister, Neris, simply because she is another daughter to be loved and cared for by the family – instead of it just being her alone. By taking advantage of their parents favouring her more over the sister she hates, Katherine feels more confident causing trouble and making life more difficult and miserable for Neris – just like seducing the man she loved would do.

The ‘steal your fiancé’ scheme has typically been portrayed as part of establishing one sister as the story’s antagonist whilst being used for the other sister as a learning opportunity to become a better version of herself without seeking the male validation she had previously sort out.

Even with this idea being overused over and over again, some stories slip through in their unique employment of the trope. Such as the manga, Proud to be the Villainess, where the trope is completely subverted by having the ‘evil’, fiancé-stealing sister turn out to be good and not as malicious as she had previously portrayed herself to be – in other words, the evil sister was written to be an unreliable narrator.

The “I’m the real daughter” Evil Sister

“I’m the real daughter” is a phrase that goes hand-in-hand with the fake daughter trope often seen in Asian media like Chinese dramas and Korean dramas. There are comics that follow the same template as these dramas whereby the rich, real daughter and poor, fake daughter are switched at birth and years later into the plot conflict arises because of that switch. However, what manhwa and manga do differently is that they deliberately have the so-called ‘real daughter’ be unkind in her intentions towards the ‘fake daughter’ whilst she tries to get her biological family to cast the fake one out.

As a narrative strategy, the “I’m the real daughter” situation can be seen as a way to evoke sympathy from the readers for the fake daughter who may or not have to experience rejection from the family she once knew and loved. Though, as a plot device, it can be used to reveal how critical an introduced character can be beyond what is directly stated at the beginning of the story. Looking at I Am the Real One, the identity crisis of who the biological daughter of the Grand Duke is-is a significant part of the story yet acts to present dramatic irony (where the readers know information the characters don’t) regarding the conspiracies revolving Cosette (the ‘real’ daughter) which have to do with the actual reason she decided to reunite with her biological father.

The ‘power is mine’ Evil Sister

This is quite the interesting variation of the evil sister because of how it can easily turn the manga/manhwa from a slice of life or romance story to a drama or even a horror. A key element involving this type of sister is usually the inclusion of fantasy and how it can go from being mesmerising to horrifying as quickly as the first panels of the first chapter. Just as we see in Into the Light, Once Again, with the antagonist Marianne (the evil sister) manipulating her entire family into hating and inevitably executing her sister Alisa; only after torturing her.

An interesting note to also make on the ‘power is mine’ evil sister type is how they can include the first two types of evil sisters discussed above. That is because in seeking ultimate power, the evil sister may aim to establish herself as the only ‘necessary’ or ‘real’ daughter of the family and doing so by having everything that is her ‘good’ sister’s (like her inheritance and her lover) be attained and made solely her own – just like we see with Katherine from My Sister Covets My Fiancé and Lorena from A World Without You. In which case, this type of evil sister can easily be described as power-hungry, attention-seeking, and covetous. And because of that, they never fail to receive the utmost frustration, infuriation and disdain from most readers of their respective manhwa.

Staff Writer; Fadzai Nyamande

A South African who brings her love for fiction, manga, and storytelling into every piece she creates. Her writing is shaped by imagination, curiosity, and a true appreciation for the worlds stories can build.

Feel free to drop a note at; FadzaiN@AfroGamers.com.

A recent pattern seen among manhwa readers – specifically, romance manhwa readers – is the adoption of this act of character information gathering just to see whether they fit the ideal image of a ‘swoon worthy’ man. The criteria to fit this ideal image is often not dependent on whether or not the male character is a good or bad person but on what the majority of readers agree to be the latest in fashion man. With that, we can explore this idea of the ideal male image by looking at the current trend of the ‘toxic boyfriend/husband’ trope as seen in some male leads like the following two well-known characters.

Bjorn Dniester from The Problematic Prince

To start off, a toxic man, or toxic masculinity, is typically linked to a man having harmful beliefs and tendencies that more often than not damage their inter- and intrapersonal relationships.

After reading The Problematic Prince, a historical, romance manhwa, we find the male lead Bjorn who can easily be described as toxic from his conceited, condescending and manipulative nature; but let’s not forget how rich and handsome he is too. He is not only a prince but an archduke who owns and runs the biggest bank in the country even with a scandal of being a divorced man looming over his head.

Bjorn is a relatively complicated character due to his otherwise ‘less than likeable’ personality traits being so easily pushed aside by The Problematic Prince audience. Readers don’t necessarily avoid pointing these out, but it is more of Solche, the author of the web novel the manhwa is based on, being particularly good at manipulating and obscuring the narrative surrounding Bjorn – so much so that we, as the readers, don’t see what is so wrong with him until another character points it out for us or we find out ourselves a little later into the story. It is with that that the toxic image becomes a lot more apparent and a sort of love-hate relationship between Bjorn and the readers ignites.

From reader reception alone (as seen on social media and comment sections), it is obvious that the only reason Bjorn can be seen as likeable is because of the ‘perfect’, detailed character background which supposedly suits some standards female audience members of the manhwa have for their ideal boyfriend/husband. Well, either that, or readers found it attractive how depressed and haggard he became after his second wife up and left him after serving him with divorce papers because he was too emotionally constipated for her liking.

Joo Jaekyung from Jinx

Secondly, to commemorate the end of Jinx (the main story) – written and illustrated by Mingwa – we have Joo Jaekyung who is also added onto the list of adored toxic male leads in romance manhwa. The thing about Mingwa is that she is known for writing toxic male characters with her most popular series before Jinx being BJ Alex – which exploded in readership during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. So, after Mingwa announced in 2022 how she was releasing another BL (Boy’s Love) manhwa about an MMA fighter nicknamed the ‘Emperor of MMA’, readers knew to expect something dark and heartbreaking – more so for the love interest.

Jaekyung is particularly off putting because of his violent tendencies. Not that him being an MMA fighter meant he would automatically be seen as abusive; except his aggressive speech, dismissive attitude toward certain people and behaviour bordering towards being emotionless made him a character susceptible to audience criticism. Unlike Bjorn, he was purposely written to appear as horrible a man as he can be. Which worked, because the Jinx fandom did not hold him to as high a light as some toxic male characters out there, and even went as far as calling him a ‘horse’ to make fun of his facial features and likening him to a breeding horse.

At least that is until … the Redemption arc!

When it was revealed that Jaekyung was the way he was because of the type of childhood he had – absent mother, abusive, neglectful father, living like a street kid – readers’ attitudes slowly began to turn around. Even after everything that Kim Dan, Jaekyung’s love interest, went through at his hand, some readers had gone on and excused his harmful behaviour and assault citing, “He will learn to be better” and “Kim Dan can change him”.

Although the toxic masculine archetype is not every romance manhwa readers’ cup of tea, but as of late, a good amount of the readers – especially female readers – find themselves leaning more towards favouring these types of male characters. From Joo Jaekyung’s redeemable qualities to Bjorn’s less than recognised appeal, romance manhwa of the modern-day are actively making an effort to have their men not always be the chivalrous type. If you look carefully, these types of stories that almost make it a mission to focus on these types of men carry an undertone of romanticisation. Whether these refer to an effort to feed reader obsessions or just to desensitise and normalise it in societies that have slowly gained consciousness on how harmful and damaging these attitudes and behaviours can be is still uncertain.

All that can be said is other romance manhwas like Tears of a Withered Flower, Cry, Even Better If You Beg and My Beloved Oppressor continue being churned out and read by massive audiences that may critic the themes shown, however, still demand more be written and published. So, next time you find yourself reading a manhwa, romance or otherwise, and feel like you are falling for the surface-level act of a character, think twice about how they’re really like because you might find that you are accepting and resonating a little too much with their toxic actions and behaviours – especially you ladies out there!

Staff Writer; Fadzai Nyamande

A South African who brings her love for fiction, manga, and storytelling into every piece she creates. Her writing is shaped by imagination, curiosity, and a true appreciation for the worlds stories can build.

Feel free to drop a note at; FadzaiN@AfroGamers.com.

Like Destiny 2, WF is very much a live service game meaning it’s meant to stay active via constant seasonal content and updates as well as regular expansions. These games make their bread either by selling the expansion while the game itself is free, having stuff that can be purchased in the premium shop, seasonal passes—or all three. Oftentimes, all three are utilized since the seasonal pass and seasonal content keeps things alive.

Live Service is a Hard Road to Travel

Most of the time when a game is developed it’s either meant as a one-off story, a potential series-starter, or a sequel but it’s often a contained story that might get DLC before the studio moves on. They’re rarely meant to be live like the multiplayer modes of Call of Duty. Live service is more the realm of MOBAs and MMORPGs which come in as massively online experiences as soon as they’re installed.

As it would go, live services exist within MMO’s metropolitan area without having a residence in the city proper. But the studio has to be able to support it consistently. That means regular seasons every two to six months that have a theme and keep players involved and engage in the game world followed by an expansion.

The expansion serves as a mini-sequel or soft sequel without being a full-on sequel with a number and subtitle. Mind you, Bungie sells expansions for the price of a full game but those come around every year or two but they have the fanbase and the players tend to be enthusiastic even if there are elements they don’t care for much.

That’s ultimately what a developer takes this road wants: a dedicated fanbase for the title. You only get that with rewarding missions and gameplay and an engaging, constantly evolving story. The mix of this concoction varies from game to game and developer to developer but those who apparently hit that perfect mix for them tend to stick around for a long time. Sprinkle in free-to-play and boom!

Much like Warframe.

Warframe is Hanging in There

Again, released in 2013, WF is a sci-fi third-person shooter where you as a recently unfrozen Tenno—humanoid warriors who are one with their bio battle suits—to combat a variety of alien lifeforms. Tennos utilize different kinds of weaponry as they take on galaxy-spanning missions to deal damage and defeat these hostile lifeforms.

Typical sci-fi stuff, really. Like other live service games, a premium store where things and currency can purchased that can be used with any particular in-game mechanic. There’s always a special currency with these types of games—such as platinum in Diablo IV.

The story is just enough that a developer can keep going with the game while throwing in storyline stuff and pushing the main story along every few years. What keeps players engaging with WF is some fun gameplay, decent gameplay, cosmetics and better gear to snag, and a leveling system players can work on.

The goal is to make it challenging and rewarding for the dedicated players and accessible enough for new and returning players. It’s a real tightrope act because if you make things too easy, your diehards are going to be annoyed since their effort for years prior might come off as pointless. However, if things are too difficult or convoluted, that’s a good way to not see return players or retain them.

You simply end up with your diehards who—while loyal—you can never truly satisfy. There will be something they didn’t enjoy and those players are regulars and might be familiar to the team. The loudest and rowdiest tend to have a voice in the core community.

Of course, that all only matters if you’re really involved with the community. If you’re not in the official Discord or on their forums, it doesn’t matter. You’re here to play the game. With that said, Warframe has a dedicated community that keeps the game alive and keeps the devs busy.

There are a few games that should be watched to see how this is done. While WF doesn’t have the live population of Diablo IV or Destiny 2, it has stayed alive for over a decade with a population often in the lower five figures.

Do you play Warframe, Diablo IV, or Destiny 2? What keeps you playing and what would make you take a break from the grind and the loop? As always let us know!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Knowing this, going back and reading the series would beg the question “Why?” At least for some. Between the character’s creation in August 1962 and the publishing of Ultimate Spider-Man in October 2000, we would see multiple comics, cartoons, and films focusing on a teenage Peter Parker coming into his powers and facing off against familiar villains.

In short, the concept was tired and ran down. That’s why Miles Morales was received so well. It was something new and half of the original team—Bendis—returned and deliver on the execution. That’s where the original Ultimate Spider-Man gets a chance. Execution.

Bendis could’ve given us the exact same tale but Marvel would’ve gone for it. Plus, the rest of the Ultimate Marvel universe was focused on a modern spin on classic heroes. So, is Ultimate Spider-Man worth a read? Let’s find out.

Ultimate Spider-Man (2000-2009)

This series was basically the flagship for the Ultimate Marvel lineup. Sure, there was a whole Ultimates comic there but this was Spidey’s show. Hell, Ultimates wasn’t even the longest running in the lineup since it was completed in under a year following thirteen issues. Sure, it came back in 2005 and once more in 2008, but again it was out after thirteen and six issues respectively.

Ultimate Spider-Man went 133 issues over eight years. That’s nothing to sneeze at. The only other series in that line to come close were Ultimate X-Men which got a hundred issues across eight years and Ultimate Fantastic Four, which was given sixty issues across five years. Of course, the Fantastic Four should’ve gotten that many since it was the Marvel Universe’s top team for decades and the X-Men are the X-Men. Everyone loves the X-Men because everyone has at least one favorite mutant and stories are often timeless.

That Sliding Timeline

First thing’s first, Ultimate Spider-Man as well as the entire Ultimate Marvel line still worked within Marvel’s janky “sliding timeline.” While the sliding timeline isn’t particularly confusing, it leaves a ton of things unanswered. Namely, the fact Captain America fought in World War II which is depicted in the Marvel Universe, referenced frequently but never establishes a concrete timeline.

There’s a good reason for this. Business-wise, Marvel wrote itself into a box where it has a number of popular, established characters that it doesn’t want to phase out entirely. As a result, most characters don’t age, they get numerous stories.

Marvel explains that these stories happened in just a few decades and don’t go by real time. Okay…I guess. To bolster this, the numerous incidents of time traveling and time tampering affected Marvel’s time to some odd degree. Alright, we’re getting to something that makes some canonical sense. As far as the Ultimate Marvel universe is concerned, it shouldn’t be impacted by anything of this until the Secret Wars storyline in 2015.

Honestly, its why I’m more of an Astro City/Valiant Comics reader. The timeline is what it is and the timeline goes straight forward—even with instances of time travel being an important part of Astro City.

Content

In regards to the artwork and writing, both were extremely good. The execution in a modern retelling of Peter Parker’s life as Spider-Man worked here. Some people didn’t care for it but that’s often the case with comics, right? But I felt they really hit it out the park. I got back into comics in 2007 because of Ultimate Spider-Man.

The main line of comics in both Marvel and DC can be hard to get into. This isn’t because the stories aren’t any good, its that so much happens across multiple series in the period of a year that it can be hard to jump in. And if you manage to jump in, you have to keep up. American comics often aren’t linear, they weave in with other series in a shared universe and a significant event of a larger story arc might be referenced.

This is also the case with Ultimate Marvel but since it started with a handful of series and didn’t run for decades and decades, its pretty easy to get into and read through all the series. Of the series, Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men were the most appealing. Bendis’ Spider-Man isn’t much different from the teenage Spidey we’re familiar with but the series entire eight year focus was just on teen Spidey.

This was something I loved because Spidey in college simply didn’t appeal to me too much and adult Spidey didn’t either. The stories were great, mind you but I just could be bothered with his adult drama. I wanted superpowered fights and Parker’s wittiness. Ultimate Spider-Man gave you both with the risk of being a teen and having to keep up his identity.

To a degree, it was something you probably missed out on if you got into Spider-Man at a certain time and didn’t go back read the early stuff.

Pull or Pass

I’ll say that Ultimate Spider-Man gets a pull. There’s great artwork, great writing, and I have to add—the covers are dope. They’ve been out for over a decade now—almost twenty years which is wild—so you’ll do better picking them up in graphic novel format. If you’re not up for buying all 27 books—although the first 22 is the main run—chances are your public library has them or can hold them. That’s how I went through them anyway. The Marvel Unlimited service is also a good way to read them.

RATING: 8.5 out of 10 (Recommended)

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Judge Cal

Originally a Deputy Chief Judge, Judge Cal wasn’t in his position for long at just a year. Prior to that, he served as head of the Special Judicial Squad—basically the Internal Affairs of the Justice Department. Tasked with keeping the judges honest, Judge Cal aspired for more power and the coveted Chief Judge position.

He made his way up the ranks via blackmail and forcing some Judges to become his hitmen. Rivals and allies were either kept in line or found themselves with a bit of permanent misfortune. Eventually, Cal became Deputy Chief. He was within distance of his goal. All he needed was to get rid of Judge Goodman. Luckily, he had some support in the way of Judges who had since become corrupted.

When Judge Cal made his move, it was already a wrap for Judge Goodman. Prior to this, his mind had been taken over, the Robot Wars had seen the population of Mega-City One take a hit, and there was uncertainty of Judge Dredd’s return from the Cursed Earth. While Dredd did return, it all took a toll on the man. This made him easy pickings for Cal who enacted a plan to have Dredd arrested for the killing of a civilian.

Dredd was sent to jail on Titan but managed to get free and clear himself. Revealing it was a robot made to look like the lawman. Since the information the robot used came from within the Department, the hunt for the man who set Dredd up was on. The whole time that Dredd was away, Chief Judge Goodman fell apart allowing for Cal to go forward with taking over. He would go on to have the mayor of Mega-City One imprisoned, Dredd shot, and Goodman killed.

Caligula’s Reign

Even though Dredd would recover—because Dredd never loses and he’s never out for too long—Cal was able to go on with his plans for Mega-City One. While he was a corrupt official who wanted power for himself, he was also an authoritarian and put the city in a state of martial law. He was also able to brainwash the majority of the judges to not question him.

The power went to Cal’s head and he became insane to the point his goldfish was appointed to his old position and is now Deputy Chief Judge Fish. At his side were two judges, one of which Cal eventually betrayed when they questioned his sanity. There was a group of citizens who banded together to fight against Cal’s reign but they were crushed by the reptile alien Kleggs that the Chief Judge brought in. As punishment, Cal had citizens executed in alphabetical order.

As expected, some citizens decided to flee the city when it was gathered that Cal was totally gone. This meant they would’ve taken their chances in the Cursed Earth. Unfortunately, the Chief Judge forced them to stay and build the wall that would keep them in. When Dredd recovered, he set about taking the fight to Cal with the help of a few almost retired judges, protege Judge Giant and his own mentor Judge Griffin.

In heading underground, he enlisted the help of the criminal Fergee. Knowing that Dredd was coming for him, Cal enlisted the help of Kleggs. The final dance for Chief Judge Cal came when he was planning to destroy Mega-City One in attempt to freeze his reign at the height of perfection—at least he felt it was a perfect reign. Dredd’s forces managed to defeat the Kleggs but were captured by Cal’s forces.

As it often happens, whenever there seems to be no way out for Dredd, he always survives thanks to some improbable shot or an ally. In this case, Fergee came through and killed Chief Judge Cal by throwing him to his death and preventing the plot.

Pull or Pass

Dredd was once again given all the kudos and it was expected that he’d become Chief Judge. He instead nominated Chief Griffin in his place, wanting to remain where the action is. Which is great, because without Dredd Mega-City One would’ve continued to lose more of its population. I mean, we’re talking over 40 years of stories and this city just gets the rough end of disasters and the like.

So is this one pull-worthy or could you pass it and read it if you come across it? It’s definitely pull-worthy purely for the peak insanity and chaos wreaked by Judge Cal. You expect Judge Dredd to pull a victory out but you’re really wondering how long will it take and how much more will Cal amp up the chaos before he does.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.