I love good guys

I'm continuing to vastly enjoy Jed MacKay's writing on Doctor Strange. After two absolute banger runs -- "The Death of Doctor Strange" and "[Clea] Strange" -- he's recently started his third, and seems to be knocking it out of the park again with his fantastic feel for not just the characters and their history but the deep appeal of what happens in between the adventures. Marvel clearly agrees with me on his awesomeness, as he's had Moon Knight for a while now, and he's taking over The Avengers starting with May's issue. (He also has Mary Jane and the Black Cat. I'm sure that's excellent under his writing as well, but I haven't sampled it.) I haven't followed a team book in decades, but I like MacKay so much that I will give his Avengers run a shot.

I'm very happy to have the first issue of the new IDW "Saturday Morning Adventures" Dungeons & Dragons limited series at last bringing my all-time favorite cartoon to the page, but I must admit that while it was entirely serviceable and lovingly done, it felt perhaps a little weak. For example, at least one very noticeable copy/paste panel art with only the dialogue changed, and a conflict between Hank and the rest of the gang that could totally happen, but never did, and so comes out of nowhere, surprising both Hank and the reader (which therefore feels odd to those who don't identify with Hank). But it also had many things just right. I'm loving the leggings on Sheila and Diana. And the issue did trigger a new idea for me that I'm quite intrigued by in a fanfic direction; what if the reason Sheila's canonically younger than the others is that she skipped a grade way back at kindergarten. Sheila is "the heart," not "the brain," of the group, so '80s television would never have brought it up, but it's a thought that could perhaps tie interestingly into her autophobia.

And outstanding news on the Aurora webcomic front: They're looking into publishing the 21 chapters/issues so far as a hard-copy collection. If you don't already know, Aurora is a fantasy webcomic written and drawn by Red of Overly Sarcastic Productions. A summary might be that a motley crew of outcast heroes is thrown together to save each other and their world, a magical world with an unknown past and a dual pantheon of younger city/state and elder primordial gods sort of a la Greek mythology, except that the elder gods never really went away and now are baaaaaaack. Themes include identity, friendship, sacrifice, secrets, and all sorts of good stuff. (Very nicely gen so far. The characters have been far too busy to think about romance. The fans sometimes think about romances for them, of course.) She publishes 3 pages per week, minus an annual vacation.

First, the new Quantum Leap series -- which is a respectful sequel, not a reboot; dunno why some sources keep calling it a reboot -- has been renewed for a second season on NBC/Peacock+. That means we'll not only get the back half of this first season starting in January, we'll get a second season next fall. Here's hoping that the story stays good and grows even better with that network backing. Read about it on Variety.

Second, my beloved '80s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon is getting a 4-part comics series from IDW in March! Dungeons & Dragons: Saturday Morning Adventures, they're calling it, and billing it as a new story in the style of a "lost episode." One of the two writers self-identified as long loving the show: "As a kid, I would wake up on Saturday morning, pour a bowl of cartoon-themed cereal, and plop myself in front of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon... When IDW approached me about writing Saturday Morning Adventures, there was no chance I was passing up the opportunity to help this D&D party face Venger once more." Read about it on CBR.

(BTW, they've given Diana and Sheila colored leggings/tights! The times, they have changed, at least a little, and that's awesome.)

This is my first try at a new kind of recurring post, where I list and comment lightly on some media that I'm currently consuming, and maybe we can chat about it, if it appeals?

Now, this post and its successors may be full of spoilers, depending on your watch schedule. I'll cut-tag; I'll clearly identify each title; and of course the post is timestamped. It's up to you to pull back if you're ducking spoilers about that thing at that time, okay?

Let's do a little television this post: ( MCU, AtLA, QL, MST3K )