Think about the rest of the Marvel roster for a second. Tony Stark wakes up in a mansion, sad about his choices, then builds a new suit worth more than my whole neighborhood. Thor is a literal god. T’Challa, and I say this with all the love in my Wakanda loving heart, is a king with a nation of geniuses behind him. Steve Rogers has the government cutting him checks and the moral clarity of a man who has never once had to choose between groceries and gas. These are aspirational figures. We look up at them.

Peter Parker? We look across at him. Sometimes we look down at him, because the man is usually on the ground, exhausted, mask half off, wondering how he’s going to explain to his boss why he missed another shift.

And right there sits the whole secret. It explains why he keeps working, generation after generation, while other characters cycle in and out of relevance. Spider-Man is the hero who saves the city and then still has to figure out his own life, because the universe has never once said thank you.

Peter stops a runaway train and Aunt May’s medical bills don’t disappear. Webbing up the Rhino in the middle of Midtown earns him a menace headline from Jonah the next morning. Losing sleep on patrol costs him the day job, since he kept showing up late. Every win comes with an invoice. Every triumph gets taxed. If you’ve ever worked a double, come home to bad news, and still had to be somebody’s rock the next morning, you already understand this character on a cellular level.

And here’s the part folks who only know the movies sometimes miss. The comics have been running this play since 1962, and the play never gets old because life never gets old. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko made a teenager who got powers and immediately used them to chase money, because his family needed money. Simple as that. Money was the origin before the origin. Before the guilt, before the great responsibility speech, Peter Parker was a broke kid trying to get paid. Ditko drew him hunched and wiry, not sculpted. Stan Lee later said the full-face costume helped any kid imagine themselves inside it. Any kid. That detail hit different in Black households, and it’s not an accident that decades later Miles Morales slid into that suit like it was tailored for him. The mask was always an open invitation.

Then Uncle Ben dies, and it’s Peter’s fault in the way that so much grief feels like our fault. He didn’t pull the trigger. All he did was stand aside when he could have acted, and that might be the most human kind of guilt there is, the kind built on a small selfish moment that snowballed into something you can never take back. Marvel could have let that wound heal. Instead they made it the engine. Peter doesn’t fight crime because it’s noble. He fights crime because he’s trying to outrun a debt that can’t be paid, and every one of us carrying some version of that debt sees ourselves swinging right beside him.

Now stack the losses. Gwen Stacy falls off that bridge and the snap of that webline is still one of the most brutal panels in comics history, because Peter’s desperate attempt to save her is implied to play a role in the tragedy. Captain Stacy dies telling Peter to take care of his daughter. Harry spirals. May gets shot. The marriage gets erased by a literal deal with the devil, and say what you want about One More Day as a story, but the message underneath it was loud and clear: this man cannot be allowed to be happy. The editorial mandate and the cosmic law of his universe are the same law. Parker luck is not a running gag. It’s the thesis.

Compare that to how the industry usually handles pain. Bruce Wayne turned his trauma into a fortune fueled war machine. Peter turned his into a part time gig that barely covers rent. Batman broods in a cave full of supercomputers. Spider-Man broods on a fire escape because his apartment is too hot and the AC unit died in July. One of these men I admire. The other one I am, and so is my cousin, and so was my uncle, and so is every twenty something in Brooklyn or Bronzeville or Baldwin Hills juggling three responsibilities with two hands.

The genius of the character is that his powers never solve the actual problem. He can lift a car but not the rent. Bullets get dodged with ease while the landlord finds him every single time. Spider sense warns him about the Green Goblin but stays silent when MJ is about to walk out the door because he missed another dinner. Marvel figured out early that the fantasy of power is only interesting when it crashes into the reality of powerlessness, and nobody crashes harder than Peter Parker.

This is also why he translates across generations without needing a reboot of his soul. The details update, the core stays put. In the sixties he was a bullied science kid. In the Raimi era he was delivering pizzas in a gig economy before we had a name for it. Miles came along in 2011 and suddenly the story was also about code switching, about carrying your community’s expectations on your back while hiding half of who you are, and it fit perfectly, because Spider-Man was always a story about wearing a mask to survive. Into the Spider-Verse said the quiet part loud: anyone can wear the mask. But the fine print matters. Anyone can wear it because everyone already knows what it costs. The price of admission is struggle, and struggle is the one universal language.

Tom Holland’s version gets clowned sometimes for being Iron Man’s intern, and fine, fair. But look what the MCU did the second it wanted him taken seriously. No Way Home strips him of everything. May dies with the responsibility speech on her lips. The world forgets he exists. The movie ends with Peter alone in a tiny apartment, sewing his own suit, broke, anonymous, starting over. The biggest superhero franchise on the planet understood that the only way to make Spider-Man feel like Spider-Man was to take it all away. His authenticity lives at rock bottom.

And let’s be honest about why that lands so hard for us specifically. Blerd culture gravitates to Peter because he embodies a rhythm we know in our bones: excellence without reward. He is brilliant, genuinely one of the smartest people in the Marvel universe, and the world treats him like a menace anyway. Doing everything right earns him a smear campaign. Still he shows up, over and over, for a city that would sell him out for a headline. If that’s not a familiar tune, I don’t know what is. There’s a reason the Davis and Morales household felt so lived in from page one. The blueprint was already there. All Bendis and Pichelli had to do was change the address.

Even his enemies underline the point. Norman Osborn is a billionaire. Kingpin owns half the city. Otto Octavius had institutional backing Peter could only dream about. Spider-Man’s rogues gallery is basically a lineup of men with resources fighting a kid with none, and the kid keeps winning on heart, wit, and the sheer refusal to stay down. Every knockdown gets answered with a jump back up and a joke, because the jokes are armor too. Anybody raised on laughing to keep from crying recognizes that defense mechanism from across the street.

So no, Peter Parker will never catch a break, and honestly, he shouldn’t. The day he does, the character dies. Marvel can give him a new suit, a new love interest, a new borough, even a new person under the mask entirely. What it can never give him is ease. The mask works because the face under it is tired, and the webs work because the hands shooting them just clocked out of a shift. He saves the city, goes home, checks his account balance, exhales, and gets up the next day to do it again.

None of that is superhero fantasy. It’s Tuesday. And it’s exactly why, sixty plus years deep, when a new kid in a new decade picks up that book, they don’t see an icon. They see a mirror. With great power comes great responsibility, sure. But with great responsibility comes an unpaid electric bill, and Peter Parker is the only hero in the game honest enough to show us both.

Staff Writer; Greg Tucker

GT is an old-school blerd who loves anime, comics, manga, video games, and collecting indie Black comic books.

Contact him at: GregT@AfroGamers.com.

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.

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.

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.

It’s worth noting that in American comics, there is a reason for why it’s not unusual to have corrupt cops, lazy police chiefs, mayors on the take, evil presidents, or cities where the heroes do the job of the police—sans the pay. Then again, if they were paid they would be government superheroes and that’s always proven to be a problem.

No, the reason for this lies in the Comics Code. The short of it was that in the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S was in the throes of one its many moral panics/witch hunts. Some stuffy lobbyists, busy-bodies, and politicians came to the conclusion that comics were part of thing ruining the youth—along with devil’s music, devil’s lettuce, and whatever other “subversive elements.”

The Comics Code Wasn’t Having It

Actually, this was just part of a larger witch hunt but that gets into politics and history. One of the terms of the Comics Code involved how law enforcement and government officials are depicted. This particular rule from the 1954 code:

Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority.

This meant for years, police weren’t to be depicted as corrupt or patsies—even if Batman is doing all their heavy lifting or they’re in a standoff with a bank robber and need Superman to walk them down. You would see both situations in those early comics—before the writing got better—and it’s just vigilantes helping the cops.

Actually, the cops were more accepting of adults in underwear solving their problems back them. The pre-hatred of paperwork days.

That rule was also tied into other rules that made it hard for layered, poignant stories to be written without taking some risk as was the case with EC Comics and the stories they often published. Hell, an iconic franchise like The X-Men had to work around these restrictions. At the time, Marvel Comics set out to produce a superhero group that reflected times while also tackling issues of the times while going on adventures and facing down threats.

Mutants were considered different from humans but you had these other Marvel titles where superhumans were lauded for saving the world or stopping the criminals. The X-Men would do the same but faced prejudice. It’s not like the difference between mutants/mutates/gods/disguised aliens were known to 1960s 616 dwellers.

However, that rule meant that the U.S government couldn’t be depicted as a force of oppression. Another rule tied to this meant that Magneto couldn’t be sympathized with nor could Senator Kelly be punished for targeting mutants:

Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals.

Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly, nor so as to injure the sensibilities of the reader.

In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds.

If you present bigotry and racism as an evil, Kelly should be punished but you can’t depict the government unfavorably—even if it’s just the one guy pushing for mutant killing robots. And you certainly can’t have people warming up to Magneto and feeling “Well, Robert Kelly is such a d**k maybe Magneto ain’t wrong.”

Again, rules for comics written during a time when the country was involved in war and social issues—and there was a distrust of the government by people who got shafted and soldiers left out to dry.

By 1970s, those themes were explored and the writing became less “Aquaman saved some sailors” and more “What is Superman even fighting for if you’re all treating each other like this?”

A Dreddful Use of Power

My favorite depiction of the ineffective/incompetent authority in western comics has to be President Robert Booth from the Judge Dredd franchise. This guy was the prime example of “Don’t let him have the launch codes.”

I’ve said a lot about Judge Dredd, Booth, and the world of Dredd over the years but someone who could cause a global nuclear apocalypse as well as a civil war off of big d**king—incompetent. The 22^nd century is a mess and the only effective authority happens to be the Judges. Sure, there’s issues among the Judges and with each decade of publication their power seems to weaken but it’s better than being under Booth.

I suppose you could say that Booth was effective at destroying the world or rather d**king the world, especially with all the mayhem that followed as the U.S and other countries got back “normal”.

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.

For instance, one trope I hate is the naming of characters and places in most fantasy anime. Normally, the names are European in nature—nothing unique but expected. However, it gets ridiculous when the names are lengthy. When this happens, the name is announced by some haughty noble with an obnoxious amount of self-importance.

It annoys me because it tends to happen more than once in the series because this character is part of a larger family, so them and their siblings all have four or five names, a title, an heir ranking, and so on. I don’t know, many one of the snooty nobles becomes a friend of the main character. You know how it goes.

On that note, the fantasy series Bastard!! can be disgusting with this particular trope as Kazushi Hagiwara uses heavy metal references. I mean, some of the band names and musicians would make for cool character, attack, and location names…I just can’t stand by a spell called “Stryper” blocking a spell named after Slayer.

Sure, 80s Stryper was very good with releases like Soldiers Under Command and To Hell with the Devil, but those albums aren’t Hell Awaits or Reign in Blood.

Incompetent Authority in Anime and Comics

But this is AfroGamers, not The Black Rock and Heavy Metal but Bastard does present us with our featured trope—and a favorite of mine: incompetent authority and government. In the first few episodes of Bastard, the kingdom of Metallicana comes under attack by several powerful foes.

Well, they’re powerful for season one, first half of the season enemies. They’re definitely above the knights’ skill level and paygrade as far as threats are concerned. The kingdom’s council/king’s advisors all elect to summon a sealed away evil wizard—Dark Schneider—to defend them. Summon an old, easily agitated, lecherous magical wild card who tried to turn your kingdom into a parking lot a decade and a half go…to defend said kingdom.

Things have gotten to a state where the kingdom is just down horrendous when you’re asking opps for help. To say the kingdom is weak would be inaccurate, they just can’t deal with the threat of magic and mayhem. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, that’s why characters like Doctor Strange, Brother Voodoo, The Sandman, and Spawn are around: magic and the paranormal have a tendency of messing things up differently from alien agendas and super science.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what the nature of the threat is, whatever authority is in charge is typically ineffective at what they do. In the case of Bastard, the council repeatedly requests Tia Noto Yoko to unseal Dark with her virgin’s kiss whenever a threat arrives. You could say that the kingdom had 15 years of peace and didn’t need to bolster its defenses for similar foes but I don’t know maybe…build your forces up anyway. Just as a precaution.

I don’t what the case in the Super Mario Bros franchise is but the Mushroom Kingdom is ridiculously poorly defended. Bowser might as well just walked in each time and snatched the Princess. He never needed his airships, Clown Car, or Koopa Troopas. Now depending on what you think Mario and Luigi’s origins in this other world are—whether they were born in the Mushroom Kingdom or fell in there—entrusting the rescue of a head of state to plumbers just seems irresponsible.

Seriously, where does the confidence come from in that decision? It’s probably the same brilliant minds who figure bringing randoms from another world/dimension to solve their world’s problems is a great idea.

It’s not. There are always additional problems in isekai summoning such as a religious powerhouse or a cult/conspirators working behind the scenes. They’re the wrench in the works. Sure, there’s a world-destroying threat and we’re on a schedule but that doesn’t stop nobles, royals, and clergy from complicating the whole situation.

At the moment, isekai is my favorite manga/anime/manhua genre and this trope always stretches out the story just enough to provide lore and a constant, looming threat to the world and the MC’s quest. If authority just worked as it should, the MC might not be needed half of the time. In these series, the MC is basically a heroic janitor—who might have a blessing or cheat—here to clean up these otherworlders’ issues.

You know, so they can eventually go home.

We can’t get into ineffective authority without touching on Western comics but that’s a-whole-nother piece because there are too many examples to list! Share your favorite or least favorite instances of bumbling or ineffective authority in a series!

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 Dredd’s Awareness and Adaptability

Judge Dredd is a clone of the greatest Chief Judge ever—Eustace Fargo—at his physical peak. As “The Father of Justice”, Fargo was seen as the perfect cop in every way. Dredd has those genres as well as training from childhood. Think of it as Bruce Wayne training in gymnastics, ninjutsu, and other marital arts from a young age while pursuing engineering and detective sciences.

Dredd was trained to be a physical menace of an officer. However, this is Mega-City One! Criminals come in all shapes, sizes, motivations, and boldness. The judges never know who or what they will run into! Sometimes, the problem isn’t solved with something like a raid or simple arrest.

So, these judges are also schooled on investigative sciences and the law from an early age. Judges remove the need for a court room judge and prosecutors except for extreme cases. While there are departments for advanced investigation and detective work, usually a judge’s awareness and on-the-street investigative skills are enough to sentence people on the spot.

Dredd is another beast. His awareness and adaptability are ridiculously high. When you factor in how much experience he already had in his 2000 A.D debut and the experience he has now, it’s no wonder he is still the top cop even though he’s older.

He can survive and avoid situations someone his age might react slower to with little effort. Dredd moves better than Batman did in Dark Knight Returns. There was time when Batman was depicted as just knowing what a substance was just by observing, smelling, and feeling it. Eventually, that gave way to sometimes using advanced technology.

While that’s cool and one of my favorite part of Batman are the gadgets, Judge Dredd is still very much old school Batman, old school detective. He just knows whatever a substance is even though he has access to technology. Rarely does anything get past Judge Dredd.

Dredd Doesn’t Miss

Now, this isn’t true as there have been times when Judge Dredd missed his shot. However, he rarely misses. I’d say that if Dredd missed, he was using the wrong ammo. His gun, the Lawgiver, is capable of different ammo from the same cartridge and his ricochet rounds have come in handy more than once.

If anything, if he fails the first time and figures out a weakness or opportunity—which Dredd always does—he’ll get his opponent the second time around. That’s definitely one of his strengths: there is always a round two if necessary.

Usually, it’s one and done but sometimes these Mega City-One scumbags can be a little craftier than expected or it’s an ambush situation. Dredd is never fooled more than once. I’d also factor this into his high level of adaptability as mentioned above.

Like any good hero leading a series, there’s some level of learning from defeats or draws. A hero who doesn’t is one that is often done for comedy or is simply a hero who is meant to fail. Dredd is one who learns from previous situations and the present one.

Remember, Dredd stories are often told in shorter form. Things move much quickly than in longer form comics and will be wrapped up sooner. It’s just the pace of Dredd stories but on top of that, Dredd just ties his business up sooner.

He doesn’t have many reoccurring foes or mortal enemies for a reason. Those who are his mortal foes are often beyond his reach as a mortal judge and not someone that he arrested and are somehow free again.

Dredd is Fighting Aging and Winning

Going back Batman in Dark Knight Returns, Bruce Wayne is fighting aging and losing. He’s carrying out his mission but his body isn’t having any of it. Meanwhile, Dredd is aging and kicking its ass—and his aging in canonical! His stories in 2000 A.D are told over the years throughout his career and adventures.

While there are different adaptations being published, all of the Dredd stories are within the main timeline of events for several of the 2000 A.D series. He’s seen tons of gnarly things, run-of-the-mill dirt bags, remnants of the past, and even otherworldly beings.

It’s all nothing different from other heroes in any other comics but it’s all done without reboots or restarts. The writers just pick things up with what previous writers presented and that’s part of these characters’ backstories.

You could say that’s more of a nod to the writing than just Dredd being near immortal but sometimes it’s great to see a hero in changing world as opposed to a rebooted or retconned world brought up to date. Everything changes around him, characters die, new threats arise, deals and treaties breakdown and it all happens over time.

That’s always been an issue with me and comics, the lack of a sense of time. Events and villains come along back-to-back, sometimes the time between these events aren’t specified or anything. However, due to the number of comics within a particular timeline, some events that occur in Doctor Strange might be behind-the-scenes in X-Men or The Avengers.

That ultimately gives writers wiggle room to reboot a timeline. Dredd has supernatural elements in some stories but the presence isn’t strong enough that a whole timeline can be reset so that Dredd doesn’t age.

Nope, he’s just duking it out with Father Time and keeping Mega City-One as safe as it deserves to be.

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.

Power Rangers Always Had Potential as a Universe

The way that the Power Rangers franchise is done now is that the show runs in Japan and are later cut up in the West to where the action scenes remain but relevant out-of-Ranger mode, outside of monster battle scenes are filmed and added to make a new show.

If you watch any tokusatsu with subtitles, you’ll notice it’s an entirely difficult show from what we get in the West. Actually, some such as the Kamen Rider franchise are a little more violent and intense that the few series we got during the 90s and 00s.

Then again, Power Rangers was always geared towards kids. It’s colorful, there’s fighting, monsters, and explosions—it’s a live action shonen-oriented anime, basically. It’s also one that should’ve been moved towards being a universe series earlier.

In its current form, PR tends to run for a few seasons before moving on to a new generation of Rangers. Sometimes older Rangers will return as part of a new series or there will be reunion shows where the OGs fight alongside the new generation Rangers.

However, there aren’t several series running at one time with crossovers. That’s why eOne’s approach of a cinematic universe of television shows and films is so intriguing.

Making a Cinematic Universe on Netflix

The franchise as well as eOne—Entertainment One—are owned by Hasbro which also has Transformers, Dungeons & Dragons, and Magic: The Gathering in its war chest. With Disney+, HBO, Paramount, and other networks and companies with a streaming wing having the means to create cinematic universes from many franchises.

Right now, doing that with anything that is a superhero franchise—which the Power Rangers are—or superhero-adjacent is the way to go. Disney+ manages to do this not only with its Marvel holdings but also Star Wars.

Netflix has series that should finish out or get to a possible third season before jumping at that idea but Power Rangers give them greenlight off the bat. It’s a familiar franchise known the world over and it has been that way for almost 30 years in the west. People know PR and there’s never been a generation of viewers where the franchise hasn’t been on the air.

It’ll be interesting how eOne goes about it because looking at the early series, some of it happened around the same time as Might Morphin’ Power Rangers chronologically. Also, even though one villain is defeated doesn’t mean that a hero’s work is done.

Actual Storyline Build Is Here!

Actually, the Angel Grove crew of Rangers should’ve always been on guard before passing the torch to a new generation. Instead—as a kid in the 90s—we just got new Rangers shows such as Zeo and Turbo. Both were cool series but they just kind of appeared with the other Rangers simply moving on besides Tommy Oliver—the original Green Ranger and White Ranger.

In a cinematic universe, we won’t have that “here are some new Rangers” approach. There would be a build to a new generation and the current generation would work alongside another group of Rangers elsewhere.

Hell, we might even have the Angel Grove Rangers show along with Rangers on another planet or in another time. It’s all very exciting. I’m hoping we get a show about the origin of the first Power Rangers because to be honest, Zordon and Alpha were just in Angel Grove for what seems to be years and bestowed the power of the Rangers on five teenagers who showed no prior qualification to be Rangers.

Not only that but they just took to the role. It wasn’t until late in the first season and early in the second season that the Rangers started to have issues being Rangers and even then, it was a monster-of-the-week issue.

While we see monster-of-the-week on The CW DC shows with each different villains harassing one city, those heroes have issues outside of being superheroes and those villains return often. There’s no way we’re going to see Power Rangers on Netflix in the 2020s running a monster-of-the-week approach without any return or whatever. That’s just lazy and tacky.

Bringing In Other Heroes from Saban Series

What I’m hoping for is that we see other Saban heroes and teams. Masked Rider was my favorite of all of them even though the show flopped in the U.S. Servo from Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad would be cool to see as well. The series wasn’t Saban but no one’s claiming the Samurai Syber-Squad.

I wouldn’t even mind seeing the Big Bad Beetleborgs make appearances. When you have a superhero show any time after the 2009 and another hero makes an appearance, they’re likely to get a show. It would just be cool for both older fans and a new generation of fans to see a new spin on all the cool stuff Saban gave my generation during the 1990s and Netflix and eOne might just be able to pull it off well.

Discuss it! What would you like to see this tag team do with Power Rangers? Keep it focused purely on the Rangers or expand it? More films than shows? A more mature approach? A nice mix for everyone? 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.

Here are three times when not only the city but the country—everyone—failed a hero.

Spawn’s Country Failed Him

Let’s warm things up with one we’ve talked about in the past. Detroit native Al Simmons was a top-tier lieutenant colonel in the U.S Marines as part of Force Recon. He moves up to become a member of the Secret Service and eventually the CIA.

In the CIA, he becomes an assassin and is dropped into various hotspots and the like carrying out dirty work for the U.S. Simmons becomes disillusioned with work as it isn’t how he wanted to serve his country.

He’s a good man who does very bad things and it wears on. On a mission in Botswana, his boss Jason Wynn orders Simmons’ field partner—who later becomes Chapel—to kill him.

Burned to death, Simmons is sent to Hell—half because his mother was worshipped the devil and half because his great grandfather survived a lynching but refused to sell his soul—so his soul was damned off the bat.

The rest is history: he wants to see his wife again, makes a deal with devil, and is sent back to Earth as one of the devil’s soldiers as Spawn. Yeah, the country failed him hard.

The Big Bang in Dakota’s Paris Island

Most of this list is how the country failed eventual vigilantes. In a case of the city failing the heroes you don’t have to look further than the early 90s—and recently revived—Milestone Comics imprint. Especially the 1993 comics from the publisher.

The Big Bang—inspired by Black urban legends—was an event where several street gangs went to a spot in Paris Island for a big end-all-be-all fight for control of the island. With such a large event, of course the police are notified and the mayor greenlights the use of an experimental tear gas of dubious origins and research.

What results is death and/or mutations both horrific and amazing. This is the birth of villains and heroes in Milestone Comics’ Dakotaverse such as Virgil Hawkins who becomes the popular Static, his foe/school mate Francis Stone who becomes Hotstreak, and my personal favorite of the Milestone series, the superhero group Blood Syndicate.

Dubbed “Bang Babies”, there’s no way to say that they weren’t failed by their city. As a matter of fact, with any incident where characters are failed by their city or country, the situation is covered up.

The Death of Tak Se’Young’s Parents and the Trauma of Siyeon in Rooftop Sword Master

When this article is dropped my review of Rooftop Sword Master might have already been posted or you can expect it sometime after this one. RSM is a superhero fantasy revenge tale about a rail-thin victim of bullies who becomes a sword-wielding, muscle bound behemoth and sets out to gain revenge for himself, his girlfriend, and his parents.

After an incident that leaves middle schooler Tak in a coma and his girlfriend locked away in a mental hospital, his parents try to appeal to the public for justice. The bullies went unpunished, their parents went unbothered, and they were so rich and powerful that the whole thing was covered up.

They get nowhere and end up immolating themselves in front of civilians as a last-ditch effort to get the government to do something about it.

After coming out of a coma, living alone, depressed, unable to do anything about it, Tak gets a blessing of sorts in a large otherworldly sword. The sword gives him powers and immense strength and now he has the means to handle it directly.

Violence and revenge are never the answers but the city failed Tak and everyone close to him so horribly that violence and revenge seem pretty damn reasonable. After all, the incident was largely covered up until his parents killed themselves and something had to be done.

On that note, the government failed further as the bullies were only expelled, their parents issued a public apology and sent their kids out of the country, and Tak got hefty compensation. The bullies still have their parents and got to live life while he’s mostly orphaned—outside of his aunt.

Bruce Wayne’s Parents Were a Pack in the Batman Franchise

The Batman franchise has been around since 1939, so everyone knows Batman. He comes into existence because his parents are killed by a mugger or hitman often identified as Joe Chill but the police are unable to do anything about it.

Not only do the police fail Bruce Wayne but Gotham City in general fails him. Hell, the city is such a mess that it fails multiple characters—heroes and rogues alike.

As a result, it ends up with corrupt police, a commissioner who tries his best to turn things around, a ton of criminals and crime bosses, and a hero who breaks the law not merely for revenge but also to make sure no one else goes through what he went through.

Gotham City messed a bunch of people up, folks.

Aunt May Was On Death’s Bed During Marvel’s First Civil War

A while back, I discussed why I enjoyed the original “Civil War” story arc from 2006 and 2007. Two groups of heroes duked it out in a series of battles over the “Superhero Registration Act”.

The Act was meant to reign superheroes and superhumans in as they were too destructive even when doing the right thing or protecting others. It had been batted around for some time and is technically a wider version of the “Mutant Registration Act” from decades earlier—or years earlier if we’re going by Marvel’s mess of a timeline.

Peter Parker sides with Tony Stark who is in favor of SRA. The Act is supposed to hold everyone accountable for their actions—basically making them government employees. As a trade-off and to answer the concerns of technically vigilantes about their families and private lives, civilian relatives are supposed to be protected.

Given upgraded gear, Spider-Man is presented as a poster boy of the pro-SRA side. Part of being the poster boy is revealing his true identity as Peter Parker. Not only does this prompts J. Jonah Jameson to sue but also his enemies start making moves after he Spidey defects to the anti-SRA side.

While in hiding Aunt May is critically—technically mortally—wounded by a sniper bullet. Aunt May probably would’ve remained safe if Peter remained with pro-SRA side, so Peter failed Aunt May in that respect.

However, with the direction that the Registration Act was going, Peter was failed by the government. If things had gone differently and if some semblance of peace between the opposing sides could’ve been achieved things obviously would’ve gone differently and no one would’ve been annoyed by the “One More Day” arc.

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.

“Influential” in this sense means if the listed comic anthology resulted in either characters being continued and eventually getting their own series in a comic universe, a publisher or imprint being established, or writers and artists going on to bigger work in the industry.

An “attempt” where there is an anthology but once it ends—usually early—you hear nothing else of the talents at a larger stage or the works created just return to void isn’t going to make the list.

We’re looking at stuff that was built to last, not stuff that came in last.

Weekly Shonen Jump (1968-)

One of the oldest long-running comic anthologies on this list, Weekly Shonen Jump is definitely the most influential anthology out of Japan and the most influential anthology going now.

Manga readers increased globally as a result of the late 90s anime boom, Weekly Shonen Jump manga scanlations, and eventually the release of Shonen Jump in the West in the mid 2000s.

WSJ had a huge role as it made it possible to follow storylines regularly instead of dealing with the illegal nature of scanlations and not knowing if a studio would continue an anime.

Plus, the number of popular anime franchises that had their beginnings in Weekly Shonen Jump or were re-ignited is not to be overlooked: Dragon Ball, Gundam, Inuyasha, Ranma ½, One Piece, Naruto, Fairy Tail—the list goes on.

Marvel Amazing Fantasy (1961-1962, 1995-1996, 2004-2006)

This comic anthology underwent several name changes in its time. The series was based around a mix of science fiction and fantastical adventures. In the early 1960s, Stan Lee was the main writer and stories were mainly based off of outlines with artists such as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko filling things in.

As comic book writing was still very in the “monster/villain of the week” format, the stories didn’t need much to fill five or six pages and as Lee admitted, a lot of the comics were created to fill out the rest of other anthologies.

Marvel Amazing Fantasy is influential in introducing The Amazing Spider-Man—who would obviously go on to his own series and spinoffs as well as become the face of Marvel Comics.

Detective Comics (1937-2011, 2016-present)

Detective Comics is where everything started for DC Comics following the National Allied Publications period. Like Amazing Fantasy, stories followed a fast-paced approach ending based around hard-boiled detective tales.

For many comics and comic anthologies before the late-70s and early-80s, you can expect much of the same before a new wave of writers came into the industry. Also like Amazing Fantasy, it was a vehicle for another iconic comic book character in Batman with issue #27 in March 1939.

I suggest checking out those 1930s Batman stories just to compare where the character started and where they are now. The Caped Crusader went from shooting villains—which was a common ending to hard-boiled detective fiction—to advanced martial arts and crime fighting tech over several decades.

2000 A.D (1977-present)

Definitely my favorite comics anthology of all time, 2000 A.D is a weekly series that served as a vehicle for iconic British characters such as the ABC Warriors, Strontium Dog, Slaine, Rogue Trooper, and personal favorite Judge Dredd.

I’ve talked a ton about Judge Dredd and soon we’ll get into other 2000 A.D series but as a whole, this anthology really delivered on the science fiction front—and quite a bit as far as sword and sorcery.

EC Comics Tales from the Crypt (1950-1955, 2007-2010, 2016-present)

Most of us will remember Tales from the Crypt as the HBO series that ran from 1989 until 1996—much longer than I remember, actually. The show is an adaption of a series from the 1950s.

It was known for presenting a more mature form of horror both in content and the writing. Like the Twilight Zone, themes touched on a variety of issues that were considered taboo to address in media at the time.

In the end, Tales from the Crypt and EC Comics as a whole were victims of the Comics Code following the book Seduction of the Innocent as well as the 1954 subcommittee hearing about the impact of comics on children.

Given that EC titles such as Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror featured graphic violence—for the 1950s—EC Comics was a prime target as other publishers featured mild violence and often painted the police and government favorably.

Sometimes, keeping it real can go wrong—even in comics.

Today, comics are much laxer and many publishers don’t adhere to the Comics Code. This move started in the late-90s with publishers such as Image Comics featuring graphic content.

By the early-2000s, Marvel dropped the Code and with the last decade, we saw DC follow suit. You could say EC Comics was also influential in showing that the Comics Code was almost 60 years of nonsense and publishers could’ve governed themselves the whole time.

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.