Forgotten Toons: Marvel's Dracula- Sovereign of the Damned (1980)

 As Marvel under Disney tries to rebound with another billion-dollar Film, let's go back to their animated heyday.

Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned is the 1980 Anime adaptation of Marvel's Tomb of Dracula.  The Book ran for many years and has been viewed well in the Decades since.

In the 70s, Marvel licensed their stuff to Toei Animation.  This is how we got Japanese Spider-Man and Super Sentai.

The Plot is essentially a speed run of THE ENTIRE SERIES which had 70 issues over 7 years.  Alas, there is no Marvel connection in supporting Characters as Blade and Doctor Strange were cut.

Will this make sense in around 90 minutes?
To find out, read on...

My copy didn't have the cool Title...I think.

A Satanic Cult is making a big sacrifice to Lucifer Satan.
Yes, they say it like this every time.

Dracula shows up and they think that he's their Master.
He takes the lady with him.

Elsewhere, a young guy named Frank is confronted by an old dude in a wheelchair and a lady.

They hire him to hunt Dracula!

As it turns out, he's Dracula's Son...albeit one born while he was alive.
They don't get into the chronology of this at all.

The Cult plans revenge when they learn that Dracula tricked them.  Lucifer Satan tells him that he has a plan and to wait a year.

While the year progresses, the Hunters sort of close in and Dracula sires another child- Janus.

Issue 55

Weirdly, he picks that moment to reveal the truth to his Wife.
Yes, this didn't come up in a whole year.

He tells a long flashback where he was a strong protector of his land until he was killed.
He was brought back to life by Lucifer Satan as a Vampire!

The Hunters close in, but they are actually not the first person to confront Dracula.

The Cult Leader surrounds the Church with crosses and tries to shoot Dracula with silver bullets.

He turns into smoke and the baby is shot.
I mean...you turned into smoke in front of them- what did you expect?!?

Issue 59

Things take a very strange turn in the ensuing time.

Dracula hides away and the Wife mourns Janus.
She tries to commit suicide, but a literal Deus Ex Machina happens.

A heavenly light (God?) revives Janus...and turns him into a super-powered teenager.
He was the original Psi-Lord (aka Franklin Richards)

Issue 61

The new Janus has holy powers and scares away Dracula.

A different power confronts him, however, in the form of Lucifer Satan.

He literally Drags them To Hell and tries to kill Dracula, who is saved by his Wife's latent holy powers!
(In the Comics, it's a lady named Topaz)

Issue 64

While he's free, Dracula is a human once again!

He fails many times to get restored, including asking two different lady Vampires to turn him (back).

He gets oddly heroic as he flees to a House full of kids and fends off the undead with a cross.

Issue 69

He manages to regain his vampiric powers, but the Hunters (remember them?) are coming.

Harker makes them stay outside and he manages to impale Dracula with a silver spoke.
He blows them both up, as the Couple leave.

Back home, Janus returns to his Mother...and to his baby form.  The End.

Issue 70

What a strange, truncated series of events.

As mentioned, this is a loose adaptation of 70 issues of Tomb of Dracula.  With Blade and Dr. Strange excised (as well as Silver Surfer), they found room to trim things down.

As you saw, the character of Topaz was basically absorbed into Dracula's Wife, for example.

I was not *that* familiar with the Tomb of Dracula Books (being born 4 years after they ended didn't help matters), so I honestly thought that this one was just going off in a weird, Japanese direction.

Color me shocked to learn that all of this- Dracula's superhero kid, him fighting Lucifer Satan and all that- is 100% from the Books.  Maybe I need to support the Kickstarter to get the last Trade released.

The Animation here is dated in good and bad ways.  If you like the '70s style (think Lupin the 3rd or early Gundam), then you'll like this.
They do take some short cuts with repeat animation, some people just not moving and other such things.  It's not amazing, but it is crazy.

This one works if you don't know the Comics as a bizarre bit of History, with Japan making Anime out of Marvel Comics a few Decades before they tried again.

Now I'm doing this during October since it is Horror themed, but it is actually the wrong Holiday...

Next time, I switch back to physical media.  I'm sitting on a few Horror Remakes from the 2000s, so maybe I'll check one out.  Stay tuned...

Buy or Cel: Justice League (TV vs. 2017)

 A long-forgotten Segment returns!

In this case, let me compare the Pilot Episode of Justice League to the infamous Feature Film.

Both got some setup for Batman and Superman in the build-up.
Seems fair.

In one corner, we have the Film that cost more than (one can assume) the entire Production Budget of all of DC TV Shows combined...

...and the 3-Part Pilot Episode known simply as 'Secret Origins.'

The Cartoon has an invasion of White Martians, who trick Superman into disarming a la Superman 4.

They prove too great for him to stop on his own.  Same goes for Batman.

On the Film side, the World is in danger as Steppenwolf arrives on Earth to prepare the Earth for Darkseid's arrival.

The Show has the advantage of 4 Seasons of Batman and 3 of Superman.

As such, we got Flash introduced in a one-off and Green Lantern...just not that one.

Even so, they have to introduce Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter and the John Stewart version of GL.

Alas, the setup for Aquaman went to waste due to Network mandates.

In the Film, Superman is dead (for now) and we have Batman forming a team with Aquaman, The Flash, Wonder Woman (who had a few Scenes in BvS) and Cyborg.

As you can see, both had to do some heavy lifting with new Characters while also telling the Story.

The Cartoon has the heroes uniting and working together to save the Earth, notably giving Manhunter some payback against the threat that killed his people.

In the aftermath, Batman has given them a Satellite Base and we know that more great stuff is on the way.

In the Film, the League manages to revive Superman, survive a fight with him and then stop Steppenwolf from razing the Earth.

In the aftermath, they pose...and Superman is about to have a foot race with Flash.
Roll Credits.

Similar hero poses too.

This one is not as even as you would hope for.

Yes, the Film is a hodge-podge of Snyder's work, studio mandates and Joss Whedon's strange humor.  No, I won't compare the Pilot to the Snyder Cut.

Were you expecting that?

The comparison is more apt than I remembered, since both had to introduce most of the Cast as the Story unfolds.
What the Show did well was make the threat global as well as personal.  Manhunter wants to defeat the White Martians to save his new home AND to get a little measure of, well, Justice.

You could argue that there's an attempt to personalize it by having the Boxes be near the homes of our Heroes in the Film, but...I mean, come on.

WW in the Show sees the threat to Man's World and steps up.
WW in the Film is just kind of already here and the attack on her fellow Amazons is only a little upsetting.

The Show splits up the team into groups, which helps set up the dynamics and leaves more room for Character Arcs to begin.

Nostalgia aside, the Show simply tells a better Story in roughly the same amount of time.
No need to get sticky with me about it.

A closer comparison than I was expecting.  That said, the Show does more in the same amount of time to make me want to see more of this Team in action.

Streaming Standard: X-Men '97- Season 2's Premiere Episodes

 We're back in the '90s!

The Show is back for another Season after a long delay.  Fittingly, this delay led to 3 Episodes about Time Travel coming out first!

I'll keep this as SPOILER-free as possible, but I do have to reference the Ending of Season 1.

Let's get out first taste of...

This Season's Villain is Apocalypse!

Hey, it's the tease of Wolverine and The X-Men finally paying off after over a Decade!

The Team is split up in Time and Space by a mysterious force.

In Episode 1, we see the group in the far Future as they see the now-adolescent Cable and try to guide him towards his destiny.

Episode 2 takes us back to the Present (of the Show) and follows those left behind.

Sunspot and Jubilee are recruited by Cable as part of his new X-Force.

They discover that a different team is also acting in the X-Men's absence...

X-Factor!

Last seen in Cold Comfort, the Team is working to capture all of the Mutants that they can find and rounding them up for 'their safety.'

I thought I could trust you, Strong Guy!

In the final Episode of the release, we see the team that was sent back to the Past.

They are teamed up with a pre-evil (well, mostly) Apocalypse as Magneto tries to rewrite history by getting him on their side.

Sadly, the slew of Star Trek: TNG Voice Actors are in the way!

To find out how it goes, Stream the Episodes now (before Episode 4 drops)!

A strong batch of Episode that makes up for all of the wait!

Obviously, many things happened behind the Scenes that likely delayed things.  Even so, we have good content to enjoy.

Episode 1 is a fun reintroduction to everyone and gives off real Terminator vibes.

Episode 2 is a good example of a Side Story and let us see many, many Cameos.  Just Google it and you'll see.

Episode 3 is the first of a 2-Parter, so don't expect everything to be settled.  It's still a great use of the Characters.

The pairings have mostly paid off quite well, from Rogue and Nightcrawler bonding to Jubilee butting heads with Cable.
We don't see any of the sort-of flirting with Morph and Wolverine here, but there's time (if it is continuing).

This Season really has a nice chance to breathe with this setup and I'm hopeful that it continues that way.

As always, people love to make Fake AI Trailer Images.  This one is from November!

We'll see if any of it comes true.

I'll likely cover the remaining Episodes in batches, but time will tell.  For now, enjoy the '90s!

DTV Trash?: Superman- Braniac Attacks

DC had a great run as the Studio making the best Animated Shows in the '90s.
Inevitably, the Shows had to end and Direct to Video Features followed.

Some are confusing (like Mystery of the Batwoman), some are good (like Subzero) and some hurt us all on a deeper level (like Batman & Harley Quinn).

This one- 2006's Superman- Brainiac Attacks has eluded me for a while.

Which category does this fall into?

To find out, read on...

As a foreword, this is actually NOT a follow-up to the DCAU (Batman to Justice League Unlimited). 

It's just an Animated Film made in 2006- the same year as Superman Returns- that uses the same art assets and half of the OG Voice Cast of the Superman Cartoon.

That's only a lot confusing.

Anyhow, as the Title states, Brainiac attacks!  This looks like a job for, well, you know...

Brainiac hijacks Luthor's anti-meteor satellite (which failed to stop his arrival) to blast the crap out of Superman.

This gives Luthor- voiced here by Powers Boothe channeling Gene Hackman- an idea or two. 

Superman finally wrecks Brainiac's body by freezing it and making it shatter.

That's not usually how this works, but I'll accept it.

Cool shot- no pun intended.

Luthor pockets Brainiac's brain chip from the debris and takes him back to LexCorp.

He makes a deal- he'll give Brainiac a new body with some new tech (including the one piece of kryptonite he has) if he destroys Superman.

In the Cartoons, they were literally fused into one Cronenbergian body.  This is safer.

This new body is formed from the Satellite itself and...now he has arms and legs?

The Satellite had those already or...I'm probably overthinking a Cartoon, aren't I?

Using Luthor's tech, it can track Superman and attacks him while he's out with Lois as Clark.

A fight ensues, but it eventually blasts Superman and Lois with some sort of kryptonite wave beam.

This poisons them both, because...why not?

Superman finds no help in his Fortress of Solitude and Brainiac attacks again.

He blows up the place and vanishes into The Phantom Zone, where the secret lies.

Seen here flying inside the mind of Hunter S. Thompson

While he's in there, Luthor reveals to Mercy that he has a failsafe to destroy Brainiac's body.

He positions himself as a hero to stop Brainiac...who took out the failsafe, because, you know, he's Brainiac.

Things go poorly for him until Superman returns (not that one).

Superman is covered in an orange glow and now resistant to the Kryptonite beams.

He eventually overpowers and overcharges Brainiac for the victory.

One final attack makes Superman have to use up the orange energy to save Lois.

In the aftermath, a cocky Luthor soon is hoisted by his own petard!

Oh and Superman doesn't stop being Clark.  Cool.

A decent to good Animated Film that does take some adjustments to enjoy.

As noted, this is just a completely separate entity from Superman: The Animated Series, despite using their Character Models, Locations and half of the Voice Cast.

I was distracted quite a bit at first by the new voices- Boothe as Luthor and Lance Henriksen as Brainiac- while others- like Tara Strong as Mercy- were fine.

Boothe- who was great as Gorilla Grodd- plays a campier and sillier Luthor here that I eventually warmed up to.  There's no wrong version of the Character- well, other than Jesse Eisenberg- but seeing the face I know with a different voice was weird.

Henriksen was fine, if unremarkable as Brainiac.  Corey Burton brought a subtle menace that Lance simply didn't.

Canon and Voice issues aside, this one was alright.  It took some big swings in the story and some of them paid off.

A prolonged part where Jimmy Olsen is beaten up- weird.  
Other swings were countered by simply being undone abruptly (the Fortress will be rebuilt and Clark stays). 
If you're not canon, why not stick to these?

Ultimately, this one kind of falls in the middle with these Adaptations/Follow-Ups.  It's just alright and I can see why it isn't talked about much.

Sorry, new Lex.  I did grow to like you.

Next time, I dig into my digital vault to cover a Sequel that is very much forgotten.  Before he made billion-dollar Films, James Cameron went fishing.  Stay tuned...

2025 Catch Up: The Day The Earth Blew Up- A Looney Tunes Movie

 A Film that Warner Bros made and then didn't feel like releasing.

In 2025, it finally got released in Theaters and later on Streaming.

Now that it has a UK Release, I've got a Screener to check out...

This is an Origin Story for Daffy Duck and Porky Pig.

In this one, they are raised together by this big old Farmer.

One day, when they are adults, he leaves them to take care of themselves.

As you can see, things are going great!

When an Alien crashes to the Earth, it wrecks their roof and takes over a Scientist.

Now the duo have to fix the roof or be evicted.

Things look up when they meet a new friend, who just happens to work at the Gum Factory in Town.

The job goes well until Daffy sees the Scientist, who is now basically a living zombie.

He sees him put something in the gum and freaks out.

Being Daffy, well, nobody believes him...when they should.

They get help from Penelope and isolate a sample.

It goes...well, I won't SPOIL how it goes.

Sufficed to say, they now know that there's a real threat!

To save the day, they must free the townspeople, stop the Alien and save the Earth itself.

I'm sure they've got this.
Right?

To see how it goes, check it out in Theaters or Stream it on my side of the pond.

A fun, refreshing Film that makes a good use of the Looney Tunes.

This one was a bold pick for a number of reasons.

No Bugs Bunny.
A Sci-Fi Plot.
A Theatrical Release.

By making this one a Buddy Film with Daffy and Porky, it really benefits.  As an ensemble picture, it would mean less time for the growth and less moments for each character.

Said Characters are fun to watch and you empathize with them both.

Peter MacNicol is also great as the Alien.  He has such a great voice for Animation and really goes all out.

The Film goes hard sci-fi in many ways and does feature some scares.  It is still, ultimately, a Looney Tunes Adventure and one I hope that we get more of.

Now open wide...

A fun Film that is a great return to Looney Tunes Animation made for the big screen.  Hopefully, this teaches WB some sort of lesson.

My Crazy Youth: The Fantastic Four vs. Galactus from 1967

 I came around at the time when Shows that were 20 years old were 'retro' and in syndication via Channels like Boomerang.

As such, I saw this Cartoon before the 1994 Fantastic Four Cartoon.

Unsurprisingly, the Hanna Barbera Cartoon also featured the famous fight against Galactus.

Let's see how the original animated showdown went.

...um, phrasing.

A strange effect happens on the Earth.  Rocks form a barrier in the sky.

Is this Reed stretching his neck or an animation error?
You decide!

The Watcher shows up and warns them that they must stop the Herald of Galactus- the Surfer- from signaling him.

There'd be no conflict if they did it in time, so they fail.

Time to punch out the...wait- that's Silver Surfer?!?

Galactus shows up...and he's green.

Coloring in this Show is sure a choice!

This angle also nearly gives us an intergalactic upskirt shot!

As always, Watcher sends Johnny to retrieve the one weapon that can give Galactus pause.

Since this is still in the Kirby Era (he left in 1970- well, the first time), we get some trippy (but also cheap enough for animation) visuals.

Meanwhile, Susan finds the beat-up Surfer and asks him to turn against Galactus to help the Earth.

That or she's giving him therapy.

Tell me about your Space Mother.

The group fight Galactus, essentially just stalling to keep him from getting his machines (which will drain the Earth) running.

Can they stall long enough?

Yes, obviously.

They give the Ultimate Nullifier (in a lovely gift box) to The Watcher who negotiates a deal for Galactus' exit.

Is THIS your card?

In a change from the Comics, Galactus just threatens reprisal against the Silver Surfer.

In the Comics, he put a restriction on him that didn't allow him to leave the Milky Way.

In a bit of pure coincidence, this is the SECOND Fantastic Four content in a row I've covered that ends with Reed waving.

A fun, if very copy-paste version of the famous Comic Book Trilogy.

On one hand, why change what Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created here?
On the other hand, are you just getting paid to do the exact same thing twice?

This is the early days of Saturday Morning Cartoon Animation, so I give i a pass (with a joke) on the little errors, hiccups and the like.

Why make Galactus green?
Why make Surfer look like Iceman?

I guess I can't complain about this one regard, as this isn't like those early Marvel Cartoons which were literally just reused Comic Book Panels (and they didn't pay the Artists again)!

Speaking of payment, I should note that Jack Kirby would go on to work for Hanna-Barbera around 1979, even creating HERBIE for an FF Show (and also Thundarr the Barbarian).

If you were of a certain age to see this new or in syndication (like me), there's a fun charm here.
It's also free to watch and download, so there's that.

Talk to the hand- the Devourer of Worlds isn't listening!

An Episode that fights against the limitations of its day and weird choices made.  A must-see for fans of Retro Animation.