Fantastic Friday: Breaking the fantastic fourth wall

Posted on January 9, 2026 by Mac McEntire

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Things get wackier than usual in FF vol. 2 #10, when the comic’s own creators show up as characters.

There’s so many plotlines happening, it’s getting harder and harder to recap. The Fantastic Four went on a journey throughout time and space, leaving behind a replacement Fantastic Four – Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk, and newcomer Darla Deering – to run the Future Foundation in their place. They disappeared, leaving the new team on their own. An older Johnny Storm, now known as John Storm, arrived from the future with a tale of an all-powerful Dr. Doom, called the Conquering Doom, who killed the Fantastic Four in the distant future. Plans are under way to rescue them. But then, present-day Dr. Doom has made a deal with Alex Power to spy on the new FF, holding Alex’s parents hostage. I think that covers it for now.

We begin with everyone around the dinner table at, as John Storm says he can sense Dr. Doom’s presence in Alex. A fight almost breaks out. In the bathroom, Alex contacts Dr. Doom, who tells him John Storm has to be killed (!), reminding Alex that Alex’s parents’ lives are in the balance. Cut to the Franklin Park Zoo, where the new team and some of the kids are having a PR meeting with three representatives of Marvel Comics, writer Matt Fraction, artist Mike Allred, and editor Tom Brevoort, the same ones making this issue. It’s meta! The heroes are taking the Marvel guys on a trip through the microverse in Ant-Man’s shrinking ship. Ant-Man assures everyone the trip will be safe, but then he seems unsure of it.

At the Baxter Building, Alex hangs out with a bunch of the other kids on the roof. He asks if any of them know anyone who’s killed someone. Ahura says he does. In the microverse, the ship is the size of an atom, with Ant-Man showing off other atoms. Brevoort is impressed, but he says the Marvel team is more interested in the team’s monthly capers. Ant-Man gets a message stating that a tiger has gone missing from the zoo. Artie and Leech, who’s with everyone on the ship, reveal they used “Pym dust” to shrink a tiger and sneak it on board. The tiger gets loose inside the ship, causing it to spin out of control.

The heroes and the Marvel guys venture outside the ship, looking for the tiger, who has run off. The find it, only to discover it has grown to giant size, or at least giant from their perspective. They fight the tiger while keeping the Marvel guys out of harm’s way. Ant-Man says this will be a fine ending for the comic, but Matt Fraction doesn’t buy it. He says there has to be some sort of unseen surprise at the end. Ant-Man responds, “We’re the FF. Something will come up.”

Ahura takes some of the Foundation kids to the floating city of Attilan. Specifically, it’s him, Alex, Bentley-23, Onome, and Tong the Moloid. They meet with a mystery man whose eyes are hidden behind a metal blindfold. He seems to know about each of them. Ahura reveals this is his uncle, Maximus the Mad. He’s in a cell, and Maximus engages the kids in a game of twenty questions in exchange for them letting him go free.

Maximus confounds the kids with his subject, as they whittle it down to not an animal, mineral, or vegetable, but a concept. Their twenty questions are up, and he gives the answer just as his cell opens. He says, “I am free.”

To be continued!

Fantastic fifth wheel: Throughout this issue, Ant-Man communicates with a place and/or organization called A.N.T.H.I.L.L.1. We get one glimpse of this, an entire team of people wearing black and white Ant-Man gear. The Marvel Wiki has no information on A.N.T.H.I.L.L.1., except to note that this is its first appearance. I’ll assume this is also the last appearance.

Similarly, Darla’s publicist Durante joins the heroes on their micro-adventure. The Marvel Wiki has no info on him except his name.

Medusa is unimpressed with the tiger’s size, saying she’s faced bigger beasts. I’m feeling a little tired this week, so I’ll let you comb through all of Marvel history to find out what giant beasts she’s fought in the past.

Foundational: Who has Alex Power met that’s killed somebody? The Power Pack kids befriended Wolverine on multiple occasions, and we know he’ll kill if he has to. And they certainly saw murder first-hand during the Mutant Massacre crossover and the Snark-Kymelian war. None of those suit his purposes in finding a solution to John Storm, however.

Trivia time: Fictional characters meeting their own creators is nothing new. The trick has been done since way back in Dante’s Inferno (1321), if not earlier. In Fantastic Four, the characters previously met Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, John Byrne, Steve Englehard, and now Fraction, Allred, and Brevoort. There are probably others I’m not thinking of.

New York’s Central Park Zoo, a real location, has been the site for many Marvel tales over the years, too many to list here. Interestingly, the Scarlet Spider, a.k.a. Kaine, has had multiple adventures at the zoo.

Fantastic or frightful? Of course the Alex/Maximus storyline is the good stuff, moving the plot forward, while the microverse stuff is, as the comic admits, a caper. We’re now in the second half of Fraction’s two-series-at-once experiment. It’s been fun, but by now I’m sure readers are antsy to get to the bigger picture.

Next: It’s not Margaritaville.  

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Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.

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Fantastic Friday: Declaration of Inde-clobbering

Posted on January 2, 2026 by Mac McEntire

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. History comes alive (sort of) in vol. 4 issue #10, in which characters named Ben and Franklin meet… Ben Franklin!

Recap: Reed has taken the family on a year-long expedition through time and space, which is a front for him seeking a cure for a molecular disease of some sort that’s slowly killing him and his teammates. In the parallel series FF, there’s a lot of mystery as to what’s become of them, but the main series hasn’t gotten there yet.

We begin in Philadelphia, 1776. Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and John Adams are debating slavery (everyone start nervously tugging at your collars now). Then we cut to outer space, aboard the FF’s time ship, where Sue’s powers are glitching, causing her skeleton and other innards to show through her skin. Reed finally admits to the whole family that their own powers are making them sick. Johnny and the kids are upset Reed didn’t tell them sooner.  Reed goes over the events of this storyline so far, explaining that he collected molecular samples from the various worlds and timelines from previous issues, only to conclude that this disease is not natural. Someone deliberately infected them. In 1776, Ben Franklin follows a glowing green device to a hole in the ground, only to reveal he’s really a Skrull in disguise. Reed continues that the disease is not just an attack… but an invasion.

Back aboard the ship, Reed and the family brainstorm for some sort of conclusion, only for a still-angry Valeria to deduce that the Skrulls are behind the disease. This is followed by more drama from Johnny, who accuses Sue of being no worse than Reed in this secrecy. There’s a page of Jefferson and Adams still debating slavery, and then it’s back to the ship, where Reed wants to go to 1953 and meet scientist Rosalind Franklin. But then something goes wrong, and the ship gets blasted down to Earth in 1776.

Reed’s computer reveals that a Skrull is somewhere nearby, and that the “chronal-anchor” Reed planted on the Earth is gone, which could be a huge problem. The Skrull impersonating Ben Franklin joins the others, hinting that he’s up to something. On the ship, Reed figures that the Skrull has “phoned home” and other Skrulls are headed for Earth. He wants the FF to stop their rendezvous, while also helping themselves to some Skrull tech to repair their own ship.

Sue and Ben confront the Skrull ship as it lands, for a few pages of fighting. The Ben Franklin Skrull tries to leave while the others debate the final draft of the Declaration of Independence. Reed, Johnny, and the kids, all dressed in 1776-times clothes, show up to confront him, with Reed sneakily speaking some Skrull language to Franklin, and showing off some future tech, so Franklin knows he’s been caught in the act.

Later, Reed reveals the Skrulls’ plan was to be pro-slavery, in hopes of enslaving all of Earth someday. After taking the Skrulls’ molecular samples, Sue reveals to the kids that Reed turned the Ben Franklin Skrull into a cow! (Reference to way back in issue #2.) Reed says he had to do this to restore the timeline, but Valeria doesn’t like it, rushing off in another fit of anger. Reed starts talking about needing another chronal anchor, because they can’t get home without it. Meanwhile, Ben looks down and sees his rocky hands are starting to crumble.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: The woman mentioned by Reed, Rosalind Franklin, was a real person. Her famous work, Photo 51, was crucial in establishing the double helix model structure of DNA.

Fade out: Reed gives Sue a special harness that can control her invisibility temporarily. She undoes it to frighten the Skrulls at the end of their fight.

Clobberin’ time: After the FF’s ship crash lands in a lake Ben swims it out of the water. Reed calls him “our outboard motor.”

Flame on: Johnny is now the only member of the team who has shown no symptoms of this mysterious disease, but he’s angered at Reed for not telling he’s potentially dying.

Four and a half: Franklin and Valeria are given a chance to talk to Thomas Jefferson at the end of the issue, only to be disappointed by him.

Our gal Val: When Valeria is mad at Reed, he claims she has “become a teenager.” I prefer to think this is not her actual age, but a mere aphorism by Reed.

Trivia time: As of this writing, Marvel is currently publishing the 1776 miniseries from writer J. Michael Stracynski. It’s about a bunch of Marvel heroes teleporting back to the American Revolution to stop a plot by the villainous witch Morgan Le Fay. It’s a bit more comedic and Back to the Future-ish than this serious story. I don’t see anything in the first two issues that reference this Fantastic Four storyline, but you never know.

Fantastic or frightful? I’m sure writer Matt Fraction meant well with all this slavery talk, but it comes off as more uncomfortable rather than having a grand moral center. The issue doesn’t have enough pages to have any real fun with an alien impersonating Ben Franklin. The true story is Valeria and Johnny both being ticked off at Reed, It feels genuine, and it’s something we’ll see carry forward in future issues.  

Next: Fourth wall? What’s that?

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Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.

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Fantastic Friday: The retcon of Doom

Posted on December 12, 2025 by Mac McEntire

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Writer Matt Fraction continues his time travel epic by revisiting the characters’ own origins in vol 4, issue #9. What is Dr. Doom’s real origin story?

Gimmie a gimmick: Where deep in the era (era) of every issue having variant covers, and I haven’t been tracking them all because who can be bothered? This issue, however, is of note, because the variant cover is “Wolverine throughout the ages,” with a trippy red and green painting of Wolverine freaking out. Why is this of note? Because Wolverine is NOT in this issue!

Recap: The FF are in the midst of a year-long expedition through time and space, as a front for Reed searching for a cure to a molecular illness that’s killing him. Along the way, we learned that Ben is affected as well. Then Ben recently revealed that the accident that scarred Dr. Doom back in the day was actually all his fault!

We begin in the past, at college, for the first meeting between young Ben and young Victor Von Doom. Ben accidentally spills some paint on Doom, and then they’re enemies. Ben catches up with young Reed, so they’re already friends at this point. Later, Ben and two other friends sneak into Doom’s lab and mess with everything. As they’re leaving, Ben discovers the paint is ultraviolet glow-in-the-dark paint, and Doom has scrawled magical sigils and whatnot all over the walls. Ben scraps off part of one as he leaves.

In the present, on board the FF’s time ship, Reed gives Ben a bracelet that he says will allow him to observe the past without disrupting it. This way, Reed says, they’ll be able to know what really happened the night of the accident that created Dr. Doom. Ben agrees to do so, even if he’s insistent that Doom’s creation was all his fault. Reed disagrees, reminding Ben (and us) of Ben’s long and complex origin story, including the supernatural influence of his mother.

The FF’s time ship arrives on the day of the accident, only to find other time ships in the sky over New York, all cloaked (apparently). A bunch of Dr. Dooms from other timelines raise a toast, “to the nativity!” All invisible, they watch as young Reed enters Doom’s lab to correct young Doom’s notes, and young Doom’s refusal to listen. One of the Dooms wants to break invisibility and kill young Reed, but another stops him to preserve the timeline.

Turn the page, and we see present-day Reed and Ben are also there, invisible to their younger selves, and also to all the Dr. Dooms. (Getting crowded in there.) Reed concludes what he always knew, that the flaw was in Doom’s mathematics, not in the tech that Ben and his buddies messed with. He asks about the magic sigils, and Reed goes on the usual rant about how magic is just science we don’t understand yet. Ben, still thinking it’s all his fault, takes off the bracelet and jumps in to save young Doom from being scarred.

Young Doom is genius enough that he can tell the Thing is Ben. Then all the Dr. Dooms take off their bracelets (or whatever) and revealing themselves to attack Ben. Then Reed undoes his invisibility to get young Doom out of the room while Ben fights all the Dr. Dooms. Reed confronts young Doom, asking what he was thinking. Young Doom says, “In the end, I wanted greatness.”

Young Doom grabs Reed’s invisibility bracelet and breaks up the fight, demanding attention from everyone and staring down all the other Dr. Dooms. He tells everyone to leave, saying he doesn’t want them there. Reed pleads with young Doom to reconsider his path. Young Doom takes pride in all the alternate timeline versions of him, rather than be horrified. Reed and Ben teleport back to the time ship. As they do, Ben asks if all this happened because of his actions. Doom says nothing Ben could have done would have affected him. (Freakin’ time travel sentence structure.) He calls Ben an idiot as Ben and Reed leave.

Later, Ben and Reed have a heart-to-heart chat. Ben still feels like Dr. Doom’s accident was all his fault. Reed says the timeline is like a superhighway, full of traffic lanes in all directions. If you tap your breaks for a second, can you be responsible for accidents dozens of lanes over? There’s a flashback to the John Byrne retelling of Doom’s origin, where he got a tiny scar on his cheek, and then he had those creepy monks permanently burn the hot metal mask onto his face. Ben wonders if being the Thing is punishment for what he did to Doom. Reed says, “It didn’t matter. It would have happened anyway. No matter what.”

Reed then says that he feels responsible for Dr. Doom’s creation, because he could have stepped in and done something sooner, but, in his pride, he let the accident happen. He then says nothing would have stopped Doom with going through with his experiment. “Doom is inevitable,” he says, as the final page is all the monks raising glasses in tribute to Dr. Doom in his mask and armor for the first time.

Unstable molecule/Fade out: This is the historic issue where, in the letters page, editor Tom Breevort cops to the fact that Marvel intentionally retconned Reed and Sue background so they are the same age, reprinting that famously uncomfortable panel from the Byrne years. What makes this interesting is the famously continuity-rich Marvel is admitting to a retcon, even though they retcon stuff all the time to keep things fresh for readers.

Clobberin’ time: Ben’s story in this issue leaves us with a lot of unanswered questions. Did his tampering with the sigils have an impact or not? Does he still blame himself for creating Dr. Doom. The comic doesn’t say.

Trivia time: The Marvel Wiki lists only a few of the alternate timeline Dr. Dooms, hand-waving the rest as “others.” There are not one but two Dr. Doom/Dr. Strange hybrids, interesting in how the One World Under Doom crossover just happened in 2025. The infamous goat-legged Dr. Doom of the original Ultimate Unvierse is also here, although this is likely another variant and not really him.

Why don’t Reed and Doom remember this happening? The Marvel Wiki insists that the past timeline is not the Marvel Universe proper, but “Earth-TRN273.” I sure hope the person cataloguing all of Marvel’s alternate timelines is getting paid.

Fantastic or frightful? A while back, there was an issue where Sue said Dr. Doom’s origin has been told and retold so many times that it’s unknowable how badly scarred he was or where the mask came from. This issue pushes against that, suggesting events set in motion and fixed in time and whatnot. There’s also no reference that I could tell about the “Doom the Annihilating Conqueror” foreshadowed in the concurrent FF comic, but not mentioned as much as you think. This issue has some fun concepts, but I’m left with asking… why? What conclusion have we reached?

Next: Fourth wall? What’s that?

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Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.

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Forgotten TV shows I still like – Push Nevada 2002

Posted on December 8, 2025 by Mac McEntire

Forgotten TV shows I still like. With an intriguing mystery, a celebrity producer, and a million bucks on the line, Push Nevada came out swinging in 2002, only to get cancelled before it even got going.

Jim Prufrock (Derek Cecil) is an IRS investigator sent to the desert town (city?) of Push, Nevada, where the local casino has a $1.4 million discrepancy in its books. In town, Prufrock finds quite the conspiracy afoot, leading to murder… and more. One megacorporation owns the entire town, none of the residents have paid income taxes in decades, and Jim’s long-lost father might have something to do with it. Jim keeps getting into more and more trouble, but he just has to crack the case.

If Northern Exposure and Key West were Twin Peaks without the mystery, then Push Nevada is Twin Peaks with even MORE mystery. Everyone has something to hide, everyone is involved with the conspiracy in some way. (Or are there multiple conspiracies?) Why is a stolen Bible considered just as important as the missing money? Why does that one truck driver seem to know so much? What’s going on with Prufrock’s ex-wife and her erratic behavior? And on and on.

It’s asking a lot for the audience to root for an IRS agent as the show’s hero. Derek Cecil is really good as Prufrock, though. He’s a brainy numbers-cruncher, which helps at the casino, and he’s stalwart to a fault in his belief he’s doing the right thing. What sets him apart from Twin Peaks’ similarly stalwart Agent Cooper is how the show keeps putting Prufrock in situations that challenge his ethics, taking him farther and farther out of his comfort zone in every episode.

Mary (Scarlet Chorvat) is the love interest, who works at a bar where men pay women to slow dance with them, as if they’re at the prom. (Remember, it’s quirky!) Also good is Melora Walters as Grace, Prufrock’s exasperated secretary who also can’t help but get involved. John Polito makes some big waves early in the series as a prime suspect to the missing money. A running joke is how useless the local cops are, but one cop, Dawn (Liz Vassey) is of course revealed to be more than she seems.

Push Nevada was co-created by Ben Affleck, and one wonders if this was going to star him as Prufrock at some point. Affleck filmed an intro for the first episode, welcoming viewers to the show. The other co-creator was Sean Bailey, who went to be president of the Walt Disney Motion Picture Studios from 2010 to 2024. He and Affleck also co-created the reality show Project Greenlight. Affleck’s longtime friend and collaborator Matt Damon is also listed as producer, so perhaps Damon was considered to play Prufrock as well.

If Push Nevada is famous for anything, it’s that this wasn’t just a TV show, it was a million-dollar sweepstakes contest. Viewers at home were meant to watch the show looking for clues, and the person who interpreted the clues correctly won the million bucks. Because the show was cancelled abruptly, actor Derek Cecil filmed a short video of him revealing the unaired set of clues, and this ran during Monday Night Football! (Some websites are saying the video ran during the Super Bowl, but that’s not true. It was the night of Oct. 28, 2002.) Wikipedia has a surprisingly detailed breakdown of how the game was played if you’re interested. Basically, the clues added up to a phone number, and the first person who called it won.

Other observations:

  • Not only was the show cancelled, it has the sad distinction of being the first cancellation of the 2002-03 TV season. No official reason is given, although Wikipedia shows 12 million viewers for the first episode, and 5 million or less for each following episode.
  • If Push Nevada has any signature moment or visual, it’s Prufrock driving through the desert after being kicked out of town, only to turn around and head back for more. That’s his character and the series in microcosm.  

Thanks to cancellation, the mystery of what’s happening in Push has never been revealed. Therefore, I find it unlikely this show can be rediscovered. It’d have to be a full-on remake, telling the story from beginning to end properly this time. I just don’t know if Affleck and Bailey can be bothered after all this time.

All seven episodes of Push Nevada are currently available on YouTube.

I’m thinking of ending the “Forgotten TV Shows” blog series here, as it’s been very time-consuming watching and researching these shows. (Big Wolf on Campus has how many seasons?!?) Any suggestions on what to do next on this blog?

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Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.

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Fantastic Friday: Pool-ius Caesar

Posted on December 5, 2025 by Mac McEntire

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Writer Matt Fraction keeps connecting the dots between the two dual comics he’s writing, as a familiar face from Fantastic Four vol. 4 #6 returns in FF vol. 2 #9.

Recap: The Fantastic Four left for a journey through time and space, but they did not return on schedule. A replacement Fantastic Four – Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk, and newcomer Darla Deering – have taken their place, overseeing the genius children of the Future Foundation. A future version of Johnny, renamed Old John Storm, returned with dire warnings about what’s to come. And now, pool party!

We begin with a camera POV, as Bentley-23 is making his own documentary. It’s called “Unseen Depths,” about the two Atlantean members of the Future Foundation, Vil and Wu. He narrates about how they are reclusive and unknowable, and then he catches on film Ant-Man, Darla, and She-Hulk announcing that a wealthy CEO, Charles Cotta of Julian Enterprises, has invited the entire Future Foundation to his place for a pool party.

Turn the page, and the group is at Cotta’s place for a Roman-themed pool atop a skyscraper, the headquarters of Julian Enterprises. Bentley has his camera on hand to film everything for his movie, especially as the two Atlanteans are first to dive into the pool. Most of the kids get involved in splashing each other, but Medusa’s kids Luna and Ahura are reluctant to join in the fun. Ant-Man, Medusa, Darla, She-Hulk, and Old John Storm are whisked away to Cotta’s private office. He wastes no time, immediately telling them that he’s an immortal alien who once met the Fantastic Four in ancient times while impersonating Julius Caesar. (From Fantastic Four #6, as noted above.) He tells them that he met the Four in the distant past, but also after they left this “anchor point” in time. The heroes don’t buy it at first, but then he shows them his ship.

Bentley continues to interview his classmates about the Atlanteans, emphasizing how aloof they are. The kids’ roughhousing in the pool gets out of hand while Bentley films it all, asking who the weird ones really are. Inside, Cotta reveals his true form, which is a gas-like form, and he says his wealth and power have all been in service to this moment. He says he’s unable to enter the timestream, but the replacement four can, with John Storm joining them. The adults then head outside to break up the fight at the pool.

Vil and Wu are the final interview for Bentley’s film, talking about all the wonders they’ve seen in the ocean, and how one day they will be rulers for their kingdom. Later, Bentley shows his completed movie to the others. Alex Power chides him for a downer ending, and Bentley takes this to mean that they’re all growing up. In the lab, Ant-Man is at work on Cotta’s time machine, saying it’s time to venture into the timestream and rescue the Fantastic Four.

Unstable molecule/fade out/clobberin’ time/flame on: Cotta tells the replacement four that the Fantastic Four’s bodies are breaking down. This should come to big news as only Ant-Man knew about Reed’s condition.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Medusa seems more interesting in watching the kids than in Cotta’s revelation. She encourages Ahura to join the fun and help his little sister Luna feel welcome.

Cotta may be a new character for readers, but She-Hulk is familiar with him, knowing just how rich he is.

It takes a minute, but Old John Storm remembers meeting Cotta back in ancient times. Cotta says it’s good to see him again.

Foundational: Bentley compares himself to Werner Herzog a couple of times, saying his movie is his personal Fitzcarraldo.  Make of that what you will.

Artie uses his holographic powers to summon the image of a storm cloud, which then zaps Alex Power with a tiny lightning bolt. How do Artie’s powers work, again?

Speaking of Alex, he’s grown a fuzzy teenage boy mustache, which the others joke about.

Trivia time: This issue reminds us that Vil and Wu are not just Atlanteans but Uhari, an offshoot of Atlantis that was sealed away from the rest of the world for centuries. Given that Wu says he’s gone places the others can’t imagine, it seems the Uhari kingdom must be unusually vast.

Fantastic or frightful? Very little story happens in this issue, but this is the lighter, funnier of the two series, so it’s good to let everyone goof off for a bit, especially since the main plot is about to kick off.

Next: The retcon of Doom.

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Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.

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Forgotten TV shows I still like – Mighty Orbots 1984

Posted on November 24, 2025 by Mac McEntire

Forgotten TV shows I still like. Time to blast off into space and get robotic with… Mighty Orbots!

It’s the distant future. Mankind has spread across the stars as part of the United Planets, living peacefully with aliens and robots. Everyone is kept safe by the heroes of the Galactic Patrol. An evil organization called S.H.A.D.O.W., led by a demonic supercomputer named Umbra, seeks to overthrow the United Planets. (With me so far?) Enter young inventor Rob, who has created six super-powered robots that can combine into one big robot to battle Umbra and S.H.A.D.O.W. They are… Mighty Orbots!

Yes, it’s the ol’ five-robots-combine-to-one-big-robot thing. You’ve seen Voltron, you’ve seen Power Rangers, you’ve seen… okay, I can only think of those two. But I’m certain there are others. What’s interesting is that when combined into one robot, each of the five maintains their voice and can access their individual superpowers. This makes the big battles interesting, with different ways to mix it up.

There’s so much going on here, it’s hard to know where to begin. First, the five robots. Tor is the strong one, a self-confident blowhard. Bort is the shape-changer, who is not cowardly, but – let’s say – hesitant to go into battle. Bo and Boo are the two girls, both with flirty and playful personalities. Bo can cast illusions, which doesn’t come up much, while Boo has the sci-fi/fantasy cliché of controlling the air/water/fire/earth elements, potentially making her the most powerful one. Then there’s Crunch, who is a, ahem, chubby robot with the power to eat anything. I dislike the “fat guy who’s always eating” character seen in so many old cartoons, but Mighty Orbots skirts around this by having Chunk be a “disposal unit” who converts everything he eats into energy for the team. He’s goofy comic relief, but he serves a purpose.

There are even more characters to keep track of! Rob is the robots’ human inventor, with some business about him having a secret identity as the Mighty Orbots commander, although everyone knows he’s associated with the ‘bots. He mainly the stalwart hero type, reminding us about the importance of the mission. Ohno is another robot, one who provides “ignition” to the combined robot, however that works. She’s our other comic relief character. She’s childlike, yet also likes to boss the other robots around like she’s their mom. Rondu is the leader of the United Planets, who doesn’t do much except act all stately. Much more interesting is his daughter Dia, who often kicks off any given episode by getting into trouble after exploring uncharted worlds. One imagines a Space Agent Dia spinoff series.

The characters are simplistic, and you really have to work to find any interesting aspects to them. For example, one scene has Bort not knowing what his original shape was, which speaks to how he’s the one hesitant to jump into action. But it’s just one short scene, as opposed to devoting an entire episode to this. Episodes are more concerned with the action, introducing a villain of the week and creating a crisis, and then spending the remainder of the episode with the characters dealing with it all. Despite the show overflowing with content, I wish it could’ve found more time for character work.

Here’s a fun question: What, exactly, does the name “Mighty Orbots” refer to? In most episodes, it’s a singular name, referring to the big combined robot, as in “The one robot named Mighty Orbots is here to save us.” But there are occasional moments where one of the robots will be refer to themselves as “an orbot.” And while I’m nitpicking, what is Umbra? We’re told he’s a supercomputer, but he has a biological-looking face with five eyes and very suggestive-looking mouth. Really, the show constantly throws so much sci-fi craziness on screen at once, that it’s more about being exciting than any sort of consistent world-building or continuity.

It sounds like I’m ragging on this show for its flaws, but I genuinely do like it. Why? Because of the visuals! This animation looks spectacular, far above your usual Saturday morning cartoon. This was a true international creation, co-produced by MGM in the United States and TMS Entertainment/Intermedia Entertainment in Japan. So it’s the best of reliable toy commercial US cartoons and flashy, super-detailed ‘80s anime.

Other observations:

  • Why didn’t the show succeed? Allegedly, the creators of Challenge of the Gobots sued, thinking Mighty Orbots was a ripoff. I can’t find any info on how this lawsuit went down, but it was likely a big enough deal to end the show.
  • Animators often enjoyed sneaking some cheeky bits into old ‘toons for the grownups. The flirting with Bo and Boo gets a little kinky at times, notably in one scene where Bort transforms into a couch so both of them can lounge on him. What’s going on there?
  • Unlike most cartoons of the era (era), Mighty Orbots had a definitive ending. The final episode has the robots fearing they’re about to be decommissioned, so they travel to Umbra’s home world to take him on head-to-head in a final battle straight out of Star Wars. Things even get hallucinogenic at one point when the robots journey inside Umbra’s brain. Absolutely wild!

Mighty Orbots is cartoon nonsense, but it’s beautifully animated, hugely entertaining cartoon nonsense. Don’t try to make sense of it, just sit back and enjoy the spaced-out giant robot vibes.

All 13 episodes of Mighty Orbots are currently available on YouTube.

Next: Push, don’t shove.

* * * *

Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.

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Fantastic Friday: There goes the neighborhood

Posted on November 7, 2025 by Mac McEntire

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Writer Matt Fraction’s multi-part sci-fi epic across the multiverse goes back to Earth in vol. 4 issue #8, but not in a way you’d expect.

The FF are in the midst of a year-long expedition through time and space, as a front for Reed searching for a cure to a molecular illness that’s killing him. Along the way, Ben has been acting more and more irritable and short-tempered. Thanks to a formula created by the genius kids of the Future Foundation, Ben can now turn human for a week once per year. His time to do so is coming up, and he told Reed he wants to go back home.

We’re in old-timey New York, where an Ira Rosenbaum is running a pharmacy on Yancy Street. He’s getting pushed around by a couple of thugs who want him to pay protection money. They bust his nose and smash up the place when he refuses. After they leave, Ira says to himself that he’ll need a miracle to get out of this one.

Then we’re in the FF’s ship flying overhead, where human Ben is dressed in old-timey garb, saying he wants to look his best. It’s his last day of the week, so he’s got only eighteen hours. He goes from the ship down to the city (we don’t see how) as he strolls around the old neighborhood. He spots the gangsters, recognizing them as outsiders because of their nice car and expensive clothes. He follows them into an apartment building. There’s a brief scuffle, and Ben gets the gangsters to leave. They say they’ll remember his face, though. The door opens, and we see Ira is there, with his wife Petunia. This is our clue that this is Ben’s Uncle Ira and his oft-mentioned Aunt Petunia. He promises them they don’t have to be afraid anymore.

Aboard the ship, Franklin tells his family that he’s had a disturbing, possibly prophetic dream, in which his family abandons him and Valeria, and that Ben might have done something secret when he was younger – something that made him very said. Franklin elaborates that he dreamed Ben might have sabotaged Dr. Doom’s famous college experiment that scarred his face, setting Doom and the FF on their paths. (We first learned of this in issue #5.AU.) Valeria admits she had the same dream, but Reed is surprised to hear this.

In NYC, Ben has dinner with Ira and Petunia, saying that there’s a man who lives nearby who hurt a little girl he once cared about it, and now he’s here to do something about it – something violent. Petunia is upset by this, saying he’s no better than the gangsters. Ira keeps Ben around, though, as the two of them fix up the pharmacy later that night. Ira asks how Ben knows this man will hurt the girl, but the gangsters return before Ben can think of an answer. Ben fights the gangsters for real this time, beating them up real good. He tells them to go back to their bosses and tell them to stay off of Yancy Street. Ira says they’ll be back. Ben checks the time, and says, “Help is on the way.”

Later that night, the gangsters return with reinforcements, all armed with tommy guns. Ben, now transformed into the Thing, jumps out at them with a classic “It’s clobberin’ time! Their bullets bounce off him as he adds, “Yancy Steet don’t bend!” He throws them around and smashes their car, but the leader stands up to him, saying “You can’t protect ‘em forever.” But then the residents of Yancy Street all come outside and gather around Ben to show their support, outnumbering the gangsters.

The gangsters leave, and Ira asks Ben if he’s still looking for man who hurt the girl. Ben says he doesn’t know, and that no matter what he does, he always ends up back on Yancy Street. He doesn’t know when he’ll be back, and he asks Ira and the others to take care of Yancy Street until then. Ira says, “We will.” Ben returns to the ship, and there’s a bit of awkwardness where Reed and Sue ask if he anything to tell them. Before Ben can answer, Franklin and Valeria say they have an announcement. The hold up matching T-shirts with the word “college” on them, and Valeria says, “Guess where we’re going?”

To be continued?

Unstable molecule/Fade out: The dialogue has Reed and Sue gently asking Ben about his secret, but the artwork makes them look all ticked off.

Clobberin’ time: During the John Byrne years, we had the surprise twist that Aunt Petunia was actually a beautiful young woman. But since then, she’s only ever been an old lady. The Marvel Wiki suggests that the Petunia in this issue is not Ben’s aunt, but some other woman also named Petunia.

Flame on: Not a lot of action for Johnny in this issue. He’s shown sleeping in a chair when Ben returns to the ship. (There was no other science/time travel thing the FF could do during this time?)

Four and a half/Our gal Val: Remember that the entirety of the Age of Ultron crossover was an alternate timeline, so Franklin has to reveal Ben’s secret via a dream instead of Ben leaving behind a message. What’s curious is that Valeria dreamed of this also.

Trivia time: The violent man Ben is there to stop is most likely the Puppet Master, Alicia’s father. In Marvel Team-Up #6, it was revealed that Alicia was blinded due to Puppet Master’s abuse. (Geez.) However, New Mutants Annual #4 had Puppet Master as a child during this time.

But wait, just when does this story take place? No year is given. Everything is generally old-timey, so it’s vague enough to be anywhere from the ’20 to the ‘50s. I don’t buy the whole “sliding timescale” thing, what with it being ridiculous and all, so we’ll just have to suspend our disbelief here.

Fantastic or frightful? It would have been more meaningful if Ben had been there specifically to help Ira rather than just run into him like that. Also there’s no business about paradoxes and whatnot with Ben using his real name and appearing to his own family as the Thing. Does Ira remember this? But I’m nitpicking. It’s a nice story about Ben’s attachment to the old neighborhood, and a pleasant break from the cosmic craziness of this run.

Next: Pool-ius Caesar.

* * * *

Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.

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Forgotten TV shows I still like – Big Wave Dave’s 1993

Posted on November 3, 2025 by Mac McEntire

Forgotten TV shows I still like. Let’s hit the beach and get our surf on with 1993’s Big Wave Dave’s.

It’s winter in New York City. Lawyer Marshall (Adam Arkin) has just been laid off from his firm. His childhood friends, stockbroker Dave (David Morse) and middle school typing teacher Richie (Patrick Breen) decide now is the time to live out their livelong dream of moving to Hawaii and starting their own surf shop. They think Marshall’s wife Karen (Jane Kaczmarek) will be against it, but she agrees. She sees the change in locale as just what Marshall needs, and she eventually takes charge running the shop. A Hawaiian local, improbably named Jack Lord (Kurtwood Smith) is on hand to mock the New Yorkers for thinking they can survive the surfing lifestyle. Can these hapless buddies hang ten, or will they wipeout?

The show is light and breezy, with the three guys’ big-city neuroses and/or midlife crises butting up against the laid-back Hawaii vibes. Will the buttoned-up Marshall give in and wear a flowery shirt? Will Dave become the surf god he’d always dreamed of? Will Richie break through his nerdiness and find romance with a local girl? These are the situations we find ourselves in. Big Wave Dave’s doesn’t have the deeper character development we saw in The Marshall Chronicles and Double Rush, but the sense of ‘90s sitcom familiarity wins you over.

Big Wave Dave’s had the easy-to-sell premise – Chicagoans are fish out of water in Hawaii – and tons of talent. In addition to the big-name cast listed above, the show was co-produced by Ken Levine, who worked on M.A.S.H., The Simpsons, Frasier, and many others. (Also The Marshall Chronicles, which I covered previously on this blog series.) With all this talent involved, I have no idea why the show lasted only six episodes. Low ratings would seem to be the cause, but I wonder if costs might have something to do with it. The running joke throughout these six episodes is how Marshall and wife keep moving into a new house/apartment, only for some disaster to befall it. This meant a new bedroom set in almost every episode.

Other observations:

  • In addition to everything else, Marshall and Karen learn they’re going to have a baby. The pregnancy is barely dealt with in these six episodes. I assume the season one finale would have been the birth, but we’ll never know.
  • The show feels a little claustrophobic at times, mostly stuck inside the surf shop. In episodes five and six, things open up some more with visits to a Hawaiian restaurant and then a fishing trip out on the ocean.
  • Is it politically incorrect to have three white guys trying and failing to fit in with another culture? I feel Marshall and co. are good people at heart, and their buffoonish is their own undoing. I’m not an expert on these things.

There we have it. Big Wave Dave’s is very much a ‘90s sitcom 101. It’s basic and by the numbers, but still enjoyable for what it is. I don’t know if it would do well on Paramount Plus, except for fans of these actors wanting to see them in more stuff. But sitcom aficionados could do worse.

As of this writing, all six episodes of Big Wave Dave’s are on YouTube.

Next: Ignition!

* * * *

Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.

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Fantastic Friday: Hair smash

Posted on October 18, 2025 by Mac McEntire

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Matt Fraction’s dual-series epic continues on, with a brawl between two heroes that you could’ve sworn were friends.

Recap: When the Fantastic Four seemingly vanished during their expedition through space and time, a replacement Fantastic Four – Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk, and newcomer Darla Deering – are taking care of the Future Foundation and barely keeping things together. When a future version of the Human Torch known as John Storm appeared through a portal with a warning of Dr. Doom gaining power in the future, Ant-Man decided it was time for this new team to deal with Doom. After hearing this, Alex Power of the Future Foundation ran off for a secret meeting with Doom.

 We begin with the new Baxter Building returning to New York from the Negative Zone after last issue’s adventure. Annihilus is on the roof, saying “Finally.” Cut to Latveria, where Alex sees this in the newspaper (The Daily Bugle delivers to Latveria?) and he considers going back home, now that he’s told Doom everything. Doom loses it, throwing a metal goblet at Alex, and telling him that he has no agency of his own now. Doom takes Alex down to caverns beneath Castle Doom where Doom has Alex’s parents held captive. Doom insists that Alex call him “Master” from now on.

Then there’s something for the true old-school fans. At the Baxter Building Ant-Man and Dragon Man give Darla a pair of rings that we recognize as the ones from the old Thing cartoon. They explain that these can summon her Thing costume to her in an instant, so it’s not so cumbersome. She quotes the classic “Thing Ring, do your Thing,” and it works.

In the Himalayas, the team meets with the Inhumans for a trial of sorts, where they chide Medusa for letting the Wizard exploit a weakness within her (seen the previous few issues). Medusa enacts a ritual where she drops a sword, symbolically dropping the veil of nobility and allowing anyone to speak against her. Gorgon (who, let’s not forget, once singlehandedly defeated the entire Fantastic Four) says all is forgiven, but She-Hulk steps up and says Medusa shouldn’t be around the children anymore after what happened.

At the Baxter Building, Bentley-23 and Ahura teleport into the place to find it empty. Then soon realize the other Future Foundation kids have set up Home Alone-style traps for them, thinking they are villains. A big slapstick fight breaks out, with the kids asking whether Bentley and Ahura are bad guys now.

In the Inhumans’ floating city of Attilan, just above the Himalayas, Medusa confronts She-Hulk in She-Hulks bedroom, having been offended by She-Hulk’s words earlier. She-Hulk again says Medusa shouldn’t be trusted and shouldn’t be near the kids. When she points a finger at Medusa, Medusa swats it away with her hair, and then the fight is on. The battle cuts back and forth between this and the one in the Baxter Building. Ant-Man breaks up his two teammates, and Dragon Man breaks up the kids.

Ant-Man tells She-Hulk and Medusa that Alex Power just returned home. We see him looking beaten and bruised, but welcomed by the Foundation kids. Medusa and She-Hulk agree to go back and check on him. At the Baxter Building, John Storm wakes from unconsciousness, crying “Doom!” In Latveria, Dr. Doom meets with Kid Immortus, a version of Kang from three hundred centuries in the future, and a woman named Ravonna. Kid Immortus says everything is going according to plan. As such, Annihilus appears, revealing that the Negative Zone plot of the last few issues was all part of Doom’s plan to get Annihilus to Earth. (Remember John Storm’s warning from the future, that Doom will eventually gain the powers of both Kang and Annihilus.) Kid Immortus says this is “the beginning of the end.”

To be continued!

Fantastic fifth wheel: She-Hulk’s dislike of Medusa seems to come out of nowhere. She does accuse the Inhumans of hiding away from the world instead of being a part of it. This seems to call back She-Hulk’s huge self-confidence, always proudly strutting around NYC in full Hulk mode.

Crystal is once again seen standing alongside the Inhuman Royal Family during the trial, with no dialogue.

Two H.E.R.B.I.E. robots are arguing whether Daft Punk are actual robots before getting burned up as John Storm wakes. Freakin’ H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot.

Foundational: While Bentley insists that he’s a bad guy, he refers to his Foundation classmates as “sweet kids” and tells Kong she looks great when he sees her.

There’s a reference to Medusa’s daughter Luna returning to New York with her, and the Marvel Wiki confirms that Luna is considered a member of the Future Foundation from this point forward.

Trivia time: What was that Thing cartoon about? It was a wimpy teenager named Benjy Grimm who could turn into the Thing thanks to two magic rings and the catch phrase noted above. While he did fight villains, the series was mostly a comedy having to do with Benjy and his schoolmates. No other Marvel characters appeared on the show. The cartoon was actually called Fred and Barney Meet the Thing, as each half hour would be one short Thing cartoon, and one Flintstones short. The show ran for 26 episodes in 1979.

The servant girl who gets scared off during the She-Hulk/Medusa fight is Minxi, who has a surprisingly long history. An Inhuman pickpocket with shape-changing powers, she was originally a spy posing a Medusa’s maid, only get into a love triangle of sorts with Gorgon and Kanrak. She eventually became one of the good guys (or did she?). This is her second-to-last appearance.

Fantastic or frightful? Again, I’m impressed with patience that writer Matt Fraction has with this storyline. The Dr. Doom plot is moving forward slowly, with just enough info to keep us involved, with a lot of character work along the way. This is just about the halfway point in the overall story, so we’ll see how (or if) he pulls it all together.

Next: The good ol’ days.

* * * *

Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.

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Forgotten TV shows I still like – Pandamonium 1982

Posted on October 13, 2025 by Mac McEntire

Forgotten TV shows I still like. Except sometimes shows are forgotten for a reason, and they do not live up to your memories. And by “sometimes” I mean 1982’s Pandamonium.

Discussion of the show has to begin with the opening credits sequence. It makes a big deal of introducing our villain, Mondraggor. We learn all about how Mondraggor is a spirit who cannot touch things physically, but he can mind-control humans and affect the weather. Also, Mondraggor is after an object called the Pyramid of Power, which has been shattered and its pieces are all over the world. And then, thrown in like an afterthought, we’re introduced to our heroes, three talking pandas and two human siblings.

Despite the talking panda of it all, this opening promises epic fantasy, with plucky heroes on a scavenger hunt-like quest against an oppressive, Sauron-like villain. The most well-known thing about the show is how it had continuity from episode to episode, a rarity in ‘80s cartoons. As the characters gather more pieces of the pyramid, they gain more magic powers. Then season one ended on a cliffhanger, never to be resolved. It has the air of one of those ‘toons that was smarter than it had any right to be, like the ‘80s Dungeons and Dragons, or Batman: The Animated Series, or Reboot. But then you rewatch it today, and yikes.

The actual show does not live up to the epic fantasy promised in the intro.  This was the first non-Tom and Jerry animation ever produced by MGM Television, and they’re still into the joke-a-minute slapstick style. Chesty is the lead panda, a self-centered blowhard. Timothy is the cowardly one, and Algernon is the dumb one. Any given episode throws these three into a situation and lets them go off. The humans, Peter and Peggy, are dual straight men, always here to remind us about the search for the pyramid and whatever thin plot each episode has.

I’m reminded of the later seasons of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, when viewers tuned in expecting awesome sci-fi martial arts action and instead got goofball slapstick and fourth-wall breaking gags. Case in point is the laugh track, which is constant throughout any given episode. I get it, you want kids to think the show is “legitimate” like a prime time sitcom, but I doubt anyone bought it.  

Other observations:

  • Famous radio personality Rick Dees is listed among the voice cast, but his name is small and near the bottom, and he’s not on the show’s IMDb page, so I have no idea what character or characters he played.
  • Marvel Production has its logo in the end credits, but, again, I can’t sort out how big their involvement was. The Marvel Wiki has no entry for Pandamonium, just the weird villain Master Pandemonium.
  • Oh yeah, the pandas have the ability to combine into a single giant panda called Poppapanda, like they’re Voltron or the Megazord or something. But this is done by two of them standing on the shoulders of the third, and then smooshing their faces together to form a new face from their two halves. It’s… odd.

I do not recommend Pandamonium. This is a show that has no idea what it wants to be. Its fandom must be a small one, because I could only find three episodes on YouTube, one of which has vloggers cracking wise over it. This is a real nothing of a show.

Next: Hawaiian time.

* * * *

Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.

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