BlitzTheComicGuy

Conventional Wisdom: Ret-Con 2023 - page 1

Because after the scramble to get working speakers in the first place, time was running short and adrenaline was running high.  The moment that box put up even the SLIGHTEST resistance, it was forfeit. 

Also, HELLO 2023 COMICS!  So, full disclosure, I have no idea just how many Patreon comics I'll be getting out of Ret-Con, because if you read the original set, you know I wound up drawi...

Weekly Anime Comics: Macross - page 8

Um, spoilers?  I guess?

Then again, even if you haven't already seen Macross, ANY reasonably genre-savvy viewer would watch episode 8 and instantly think "Oh wow, that Kakizaki guy is SO dead."  Like, no joke, I was actually a bit surprised to re-watch this episode and find that he DIDN'T just immediately die during the first fight. My memory of his entire character arc was just smooshed into a single appearance that's how little this guy ends up doing outside of eventually ge...

Weekly Anime Comics: Macross - page 7

I mean, I'm just saying, if it were ME designing a huge Mars base, it'd try to make it at least a BIT more inconvenient to deliberately set the whole thing to self-destruct.  Like, it would need to take at LEAST a minute to set up, not seven seconds.

Also, one of my great loves in this era of anime is pausing to look at the random English text that non-English speakers throw in to make things look exotic, and it really doesn't get much better than having an interplanetary distress ...

Weekly Anime Comics: Macross - page 6

I mean, I know they made A video game out of Macross, I actually own it.  But it's just a standard shooter.  The whole trackball control gimmick is just such an odd thing to work into the show if there's WASN'T a plan to make a game like this... because why on earth would you EVER design a control console that way otherwise?

Weekly Anime Comics: Macross - page 5

Hey, you gotta find whatever little victories in life that you can.

And speaking of not putting in much effort, it really amused me that somebody actually went through all of the trouble to properly type out a contextually appropriate and grammatically correct page of English text for Minmay's letter... when just one shot earlier, somebody ELSE had filled her bookshelf full of books that just had the word "BOOK" written on all the spines.

Jenna & the Fanclub from Planet Heart Throb - page 65

I should be more concerned than I am about how easy, let alone funny, I find it to write dialog this pointlessly, needlessly, openly mean-spirited.

Weekly Anime Comics: Macross - page 4

I joke, but that freakin' fish really is one of the first things I always remember about Macross for some reason.  See also that one really stupid Slayers comic I did for what appears to be a recurring theme.

Also, I just now realized that "Space Tuna" perfectly fits the meter of the Macross theme song.  Be glad this is a comic and not a video, because if I was working in a medium wit...

Weekly Anime Comics: Macross - page 3

...and I didn't even mention the bit about the big weapons platforms our title ship was supposed to dock with getting blown up before they could even combine.  That's like if Voltron opened with one of the lions getting destroyed before they formed the mecha even once!  ...although that's probably not even a very good example, seeing what happened to the blue lion in that show.

The point is, even though I totally know everything that happens in Macross, I'm s...

A Matter of Black and White - chapter 2

The central hub of the original colony complex was designed to be given over entirely to communal recreation and social interaction, outfitted with all the best games and literature and art and playground equipment the Radial Emperium could provide, free for any worker to enjoy. Of course, everyone hated it, and the central complex was virtually abandoned at all times, passed over in favor of a series of privately operated establishments scattered across the colony. In theory, private enterpr...

Weekly Anime Comics: Macross - page 2

...I mean, it's obviously not ENTIRELY that.  Roy alone exhibits the competence of, like, four normal men.  But still, there is something perversely fascinating about the sheer number of whoopsies that make up the bulk of this episode's runtime.  Like, yeah, Hikaru gets the iconic "catching Minmay out of mid-air" sequence near the end, but that's only after spending two thirds of the episode literally trying to figure out how to keep his mecha from falling over.  And then ...

Jenna & the Fanclub from Planet Heart Throb - page 64

"Meh, that's the just the heiress of a fantastically wealthy family with massive geopolitical influence.  BOOOOORING."

Far Out There: MadLib 5 - page 10

Putting your mecha on autonomous mode during a zombie-smashing competition is like doing a speed run with cheat codes on.

Weekly Anime Comics: Macross - page 1

Okay, now we REALLY start doing episode one... and you can tell this is a show I've got a lot of history with, because I first watched it back when I actually LIKED finding out about the production history of anime.  Of course, this is also a prime example of why I mostly avoid learning that kind of stuff now, because MAN Macross was an ungodly mess behind the scenes.  It's highly likely we'll be hearing more about that before these comics are through!

Weekly Anime Comics: Macross - page 0

I mean, let's be honest here, I love Macross and everything, but there IS a case to be made for it representing a tipping point in terms of anime pandering to the otaku crowd.  Not that anime wasn't already doing fanservice before this, or that there aren't a LOOOOT of shows that do way worse to enable the worst otaku behavior, but Macross definitely marks SOME kind of line being crossed in terms of blatant waifu marketing.  Just wanted to be clear, right off the b...

BONUS Anime Comic: Neo-Tokyo - page 5

It should surprise absolutely NOBODY who reads anything I make that, out of the two, The Jetsons: The Movie has a much larger and more influential place in my personal film experience than Apocalypse Now.

And that's it!  Honestly, a lot more than I was expecting to get out of a single movie, even taking the whole anthology aspect into account.  Man, for something I only did to cover up a mistake in creating the Patreon polls, taking a break between shows to d...

BONUS Anime Comic: Neo-Tokyo - page 4

...granted, that's at least partially because I've always SUCKED at Wipeout in its various incarnations.  But still, if they made a Wipeout motion picture, I could easily imagine it being "The Running Man" just with more terrible techno music.  And presumably less ill-explained psychic powers from the main character.

Speaking of which, I just want to say that I read a plot summary for this segment on Neo-Tokyo's Wikipedia article, and apparently I've completely misund...

BONUS Anime Comic: Neo-Tokyo - page 3

It's this song.

No joke, I legitimately thought this was one of those Kevin MacLeod stock music snippets for the LONGEST time before discovering it was a "real" song.  Heck, as I was in the process of editing this very page, I had some YouTuber rise and fall video playing in the background, and this very song way playing at one point.

BONUS Anime Comic: Neo-Tokyo - page 2

Eh, screw it.  Not only are all the pages inked and scanned at this point, but I got this one done last night, and as I write this, the THIRD comic more than halfway done.  I'll just charge ahead and post these as I finish them and hopefully get it all up by the end of the week.  It's amazing what a change of pace can do for productivity, huh?

Or maybe I'm just excitable because MAN I forgot what a beautiful piece of animation Neo-Tokyo is.  Bubble economy-e...

BONUS Anime Comic: Neo-Tokyo - page 1

It's a bonus, both because this is in addition to the coming Macross comics, and because I still haven't worked out for sure if these will be comic out on a weekly basis or not!  I've got four more pages penciled out, and I'm gonna try to at least ink & scan them all before the week is out.  I might just post the rest as soon as each page is done, like I did with this one, OR I might space 'em out in between the Macross comics.  Whichever one is less likel...

Weekly Anime Comic: Slayers Next - page 26

If I had the time, I'd totally try to edit up an AMV of clips of the Slayers intro set to "Cruel Angel's Thesis" just to prove my point... but these comics have been running too late as it is.

AND YES, I am fully aware that Slayers Next aired two years before Evangelion, so there can't be any direct influence.  And also yes, I'm totally aware that Lina and Rei have the same voice, as do a quarter of ALL the characters of 90s anime.

BUT YEAH, THAT'S ALL FOR SLAYERS!  Than...

Weekly Anime Comics - MACROSS WINS!

AND WE HAVE A WINNER!  After a tight race with Cowboy Bebop, I can officially announce that Super Dimension Fortress Macross is officially our next Weekly Anime Comic series!  Thanks to everybody who voted!

Now for some quick housekeeping: First off, obviously, Macross comics aren't actually starting JUST yet, since I still need to wrap up Slayers Next.  What's more, I'll be doing a few pages based on Neo-Tokyo as well, and I'm...

Weekly Anime Comic: Slayers Next - page 25

Insert line about how becoming a patron helps insure that I never have to work at one of THESE again.

And speaking of which, IT'S YOUR LAT CHANCE TO VOTE ON WHAT THE NEW WEEKLY ANIME COMIC SERIES WILL BE!  ...I mean, not actually the last chance right at this very moment you're reading this, most likely.  But I WILL be closing the poll when the next comic goes up.  If you want to have a say in what show I cover next, don't waste your chance to...

10 WESTERN Songs I Wish Were Anime Themes - part 10

I’ve noticed a surprising number of my “carefully considered anime theme picks” also happen to be “the very first song I ever heard by that artist.” And yes, this is another one of those cases. In fact, it’s also my introduction to a whole genre, or at least something pretty darn close to it. I’m sure I’d encountered a few examples of Downtempo/Chillout music during my early stumbling through the various facets of Indie music at the turn of the millennium, but I definitely did...

Jenna & the Fanclub from Planet Heart Throb - page 63

That's the most important union in the entire entertainment industry.  EVERYBODY'S a part of it!

Far Out There: MadLib 5 - page 9

The real question is: did Ichabod even tell the Mecha-Wombat rental establishment what he was planning to use it for in the first place?

Weekly Anime Comic: Slayers Next - episode 24

I will never turn down a chance to mash 80s/90s anime and 70s/80s exploitation movies into a single, sleazy whole.

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY: the vote for our NEXT anime will be wrapping up soon!  The winner will be declared before the comic for episode 26 goes up, so if you wanna make your voice heard, you're running out of time to do so!

We have a winner! (for one of them, at least)

That's right, the voting is over! ...for the second poll that only upper tier patrons got in on.  In case you missed it: since I accidentally set the next Weekly Anime Comic poll so that EVERYBODY could vote on it, I decided to make it up to the higher paying folk by letting them vote on a movie for me to watch and do some extra comics from.  And the winner is *drumroll* NEO-TOKYO!

So keep an eye out for at least a couple comics (I haven't started work yet, so I dunno how much...

Weekly Anime Comics: Slayers Next - episode 23

Yes, I know I already pointed out the obvious once before... BUT THEY MAKE IT SO EASY!  Like, that helmet actually looks very UN-Vader-like when viewed from the side, so you can see just how bit the "beak" on the front actually is.  And yet, all through the episode, they keep drawing the big dramatic shots straight on, from the exact angle where the resemblance is HARDEST to ignore!  I...

Weekly Anime Comics: Slayers Next - episode 22

I mean, who can tolerate somebody constantly making jokes about a show you're trying to watch?  Don't you just HATE that?

Also, I just want to freely admit that it took about five minutes to draw the characters and write the dialog, then AN ENTIRE NIGHT trying to track down the specific model of TV my family has when I was a kid, just because I thought that'd be a funny personal in joke.  Yes, this page is an entire day late because I needed to go cross-referencing my old fami...

Conventional Wisdom: Wake Forest Mini Comic Con 2022

I started to say "That's Summer in The South," but that's also most of the Spring and Fall and random stretches of Winter too. Just a year-long armpit to the face.

So, you'll notice a conspicuous lack of a page number on this one.  That's not me slipping up while writing the title, there's only one page this time.  WFMCC 22 was already pretty short as it was, to the point that I only had two Patreon comic candidates to begin with.  And one of those ideas turned out to not...