Raccoon Inc. vs. Koei Corp.

Good evening.

The editorial board here at Raccoon Inc. would like to address a hot button issue that has come to our attention over the past little while.  We take issues such as these very seriously and will be treating them with the gravity and judicial fairness that they deserve.

But seriously, what the hell are they doing over there at Koei?!  (I'm leaving Tecmo out of this, by the way.  No need for them to get caught in the crossfire.)  Have they lost their minds?  Honestly!  There seems to be this slow, gradual transformation going on from a respectable, diverse strategy gaming company to this utterly asinine nonesense that they're becoming.  It's amazing! 

Now, first off they go from a company that forces you to think in order to play their games to one where you pop in the disc and turn off your brain and mash the square button until you're you've won.  That's pretty low, but since others are going down that road as well, it may be forgivable.  What is not, however, is this.  Slide!

This is a portrait of Zhang He, a famous general during the later Han Dynasty.  Looks pretty good, huh.  A dude with a spear, armour, arrows flying at him.  A cool old action scene.  So far, so good, right?  Slide!

This is a portrait from one of Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms games.  Not too shabby.  Looks respectable.  Again, so far, so good.  At this point, it starts to get ugly.  Real ugly.  Inexplicably ugly.  Slide.

Yes, those are high heels.  For some inexplicable reason, the Dynasty Warriors series has taken this fine, noble warrior, this general, and made him into this.  Yikes!  Worse still is this version of the guy in Dynasty Warriors Strike Force.  Slide...

Are you serious?!  Look.  I'm all for butterfly related androgyny...

...but come on!  This is a fighting game for crying out loud!  These people are fighters and warriors and generals.  You know what?  That's like taking

and turning it into

and while I have no problem with

the fact remains that

is not

and nor should it be asked to be so.  That is what cheeses me off.

But, you know, maybe I'm just being unfair and I'm taking one character out of context and blowing it way out of proportion.  To that I say fine.  We'll pick another.  Let's try this, then.  Guo Jia.

Here's a good historical depiction of him.  Good good.

Here's another good, non-Koei portrait of the man.  Looks cool so far.  Kinda almost looks like a Chinese Hugo Weaving. 

Here's a depiction from a Romance of the Three Kingdoms game.  Looks good to me.  Now on to the new Guo Jia character in Dynasty Warriors 7: Extreme Legends.

Nice.

You know, apologists have told me that the reason why they effeminize these characters is because this is not only what is attractive, but this is what sells in East Asia.  To this I reply, really?  Raccoon Inc. has a different sort of take on this.

Back in the day, on the NES, SNES, and Genesis, Koei led laughed all the way to the back as the big boss of strategy gaming on the console system with games like the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, Genghis Khan II, Nobunaga's Ambition II, Gemfire, Liberty or Death, Gemfire, and so on.  They diversified in other directions like Aerobiz, Uncharted Waters, and Inindo, as well.  They were innovative and engaging.  All was well!

Then two things happened.  First, people complained.  All this heavy-handed, menu based strategy was a drag, man.  People wanted to see if the formula could be spiced up a bit.  So, they decided trying to make Romance of the Three Kingdoms into a button mashing action game, and by cracky it worked.  People loved it!  So, they took the formula and ran with it.  And ran and ran and ran and ran.

Meanwhile, something else happened.  Menu based strategy games migrated whole hog over to the PC and into the tent of this company seen here.

Serious strategy games know this company pretty well by now.  Essentially what they did is out-Koei Koei.  Paradox is even releasing games which are direct takes on older Koei games.  Hearts of Iron are akin to the old Pacific Theater of Operations games, Sengoku is a take on Nobunaga's Ambition, the King Arthur games sure do look a lot like a modern Gemfire, East India Company and Uncharted Waters share a lot of the same DNA, and Europa Universalis does everything that Liberty or Death did and much more.  No Koei?  No problem. 

In the meantime, however, as Koei flees from the wreckage of its strategy heritage, one thing is clear: there is a race for the basement going on here.  Seeing the success of, oh, I dunno, Zynga games led to the development of velvet rope nonsense like Dynasty Warriors Online, Romance of the Three Kingdoms Online, and Uncharted Waters Online.  Plus, I think that it is this Zynga madness that has really led the descent from this

to this.

But wait!  There's more!  So, we have the Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, Warriors Orochi, and Gundam Warriors.  Let's see...  What's missing?  Oh!  I know!  One Piece Warriors!  What a great idea, cause, like, people outside Japan will totally understand this!  Oh no no no no no.  No wait.  This is way cooler!  Best idea ever!  Cause, you know, it's a little known fact that Oda Nobunaga's success was due largely his phenomenal Pokémon training ability.  The Siege of Nagashima was finally won when Nobunaga sent out his Charizard and torched the place.  It was super effective.

Well, I dunno.  I just feel like these clowns kinda had the rug pulled out from under them so instead of making games with a more broad appeal, they're just making games for Japanese gamers and to hell with the rest of the world.  The games that look interesting we'll leave in Japanese, and the games that are incomprehensively Japanese we're going to translate for the whole world to get pissed off at.  Do you know what the editorial board here at the offices of Raccoon Inc. considers this?

Salute to the Mid-Boss

We here at Raccoon Inc. have decided to dedicate tonight's post to an unsung hero not only of video games, but of life in general: the Mid-Boss.  You know, that half-way boss that's kinda tough, but seems too easy to be the end boss.  Well, that's who we're going to celebrate tonight.  So, strap yourself in and get ready for mid-thrills, mid-chills, and mid-entertainment.

The Classic Mid-Boss

Kids say the darndest things, don't they?

To start of our exercise this evening we will visit one of the more famous mid-bosses in recent history, and this really is a classic example.  Early on during the PS2 game Disgaea (the original in the series), you come across a demon named Vyers.  He considers himself the Dark Adonis, and he looks somewhat like a cross between an elf from WoW and Mark Wahlberg.  Fortunately, he hits more like Glass Joe than Irish Mickey Ward, which is good, cause he's the first boss type character you come across.  Laharl notices this fairly quickly and for that reason gives him the new name "Mid-Boss" to Vyers' horror.  And, to Vyers' continued horror, the name sticks throughout the rest of the game, even appearing in his name caption above the dialogue box.

This scene was well done and just flat-out hilarious, as was much of the rest of the game that spawned a whole series after it.  I think that a lot of the comedy of the game stemmed directly from its self-awareness.  The game knew what it was and had fun with it.  Enemies that were pushovers were not only treated as pushovers, but knew they were pushovers.  Most of the punch from the Vyers scene is because Vyers seems to be the only one who thinks that he's not about to get stomped by Leharl and friends.  Remember, it's only funny because they don't realize what's going on when it happens.

The Definition of a Mid-Boss

Mid-bosses mid-celebrating (note the facial expressions) a mid-moment of mid-triumph!

Now, the Mid-Boss need not be confined solely to the realm of the video game.  Why, in our own federal politics, there appears to be a near endless parade of Mid-Bosses just waiting to be trounced into the mud by Stephen Harper.  And really, that's the whole point of the Mid-Boss.  The Mid-Boss is an entity which provides resistance, but ultimately gets knocked over like a cheap tent in a stiff breeze.  You may not beat a Mid-Boss by just phoning it in, but with even just a little effort, they prove to be not much  of a challenge at all - much like Stéphane Dion.  Or Michael Ignatieff.  Or Bob Rae.  Or the next guy, most likely.  Well, I shouldn't rule out Rae or the next dude (or dudette) right out of hand like that, but the track record really isn't looking good at present.

And now we shall look at a few different types of Mid-Bosses, as they certainly do come in all shapes and sizes.

The Gimmick

Well, that didn't work out quite as planned, did it?  Mind you, 16 seconds into Round 1 was how long Dion lasted, too.

Now, some Mid-Bosses are Mid-Bosses because they have some form of gimmick that makes them super-duper tough unless you know this gimmick, and therefore great bodyguards.  Take our portly pugilist here.  King Hippo has this trick, you see?  You gotta bop him in the mush and then wail away on his bandaged up belly button.  If you try to beat him any other conventional way, you'll end up on the canvas right smartly.  And that, my friends, is a classic example of the gimmick based Mid-Boss.  Other Gimmickists include:

Ron Wilson - Gimmick: Sarcasm   Achilles Heel: Coaching Ability

Benny - Gimmicks: Fancy Suit and Matthew Perry   Achilles Heel: The Black Widow Perk

 The Toadie

Yes, few can put the "Toad" in "Toadie" quite like Draco can.

Another common form of Mid-Boss is the Toadie.  The Toadie is the style of Mid-Boss that is a right-hand-man or unwitting supporter of the main boss, but is usually perceived as an incompetent coward.  Draco, for example.  Is he an evil son of a gun?  Maybe, maybe not.  Is he a coward?  Hell yes!  Is he incompetent?  Because of his cowardice, yes.  Draco's a pretty good archetype for this type of Mid-Boss, but they do tend to be rather broad in rank, intelligence, and ability.  A few other good examples include:

You sure showed them, Ozzie!  With you around, Magus' Fortress is as safe as a submarine with a screen door.

World War II's Mid-Boss.  Fold like a cheap tent in a stiff breeze?  Check!

The Reverse Toadie

A Reverse Toadie if ever there was one.

Yet another form of Mid-Boss is the type where you think you're fighting the Boss, but it really turns out to just be the Toadie version of the Mid-Boss instead.  The real Boss is instead quietly pulling the strings from the sidelines while the Toadie steals all the spotlight.  Generally, the Reverse Toadie (aka. The Puppet) falls without much of a fight whatsoever, since the only time the Reverse Toadie is ever in a fight is when the Boss decides that the Reverse Toadie has outlived his usefulness and can now be safely fed to the wolves.  A couple good examples would be...

You know, everyone is a Reverse Toadie next to Good Ole Delita here.

Beneath that charming, zany Mid-Boss exterior lies the beating heart of the real Late Show Boss.

 
The Ultros

Yeah, the octopus has a TENTACLE and knows how to use it with grim consequences.

The Ultros is no Toadie, that's for sure. This type of Mid-Boss has two main characteristics: that they seem to pop up over and over again, and that they are in actuality quite formidable opponents.  These guys are no pushovers, unlike some of the previously mentioned Mid-Bosses.  They can be downright difficult if you're not careful.  The archetype for this is Ultros himself, from Final Fantasy VI.  You face him over and over again, and in most cases, his attacks pack a mean punch to them.  This is one of the most formidable forms of Mid-Bosses there are.

Where there's controversy there's twitter-holic Tony Clement: Mid-Boss to the stars.

Murderer's Row: the 1927 New York Yankees.  You know you're in trouble when Lou Gehrig is just the Mid-Boss.

Well, that's all the time we have for this evening.  We sincerely hope that tonight's entry has opened your eyes to the normally unseen, unnoticed, unappreciated world of the Mid-Boss.  And remember: the next time you come across a Mid-Boss in your travels, take a moment and let them know that they're appreciated.  Make them feel like the Big Boss for a day.

Random Word Wednesday I

Welcome to Random Word Wednesday I.  Every Wednesday on this blog, I put together a list of ten words selected at random and write a blurb about each of them as sort of a tool to help my creativity along and help me become a better writer.  That kind of was my New Years Resolution, after all.  So, without further ado, let the random words begin!

1.  CLEAR

Look up, look waaaaay, and I'll call Xenu.

To be in a state of "Clear" in Scientology means that you are now, congratulations, reaching a state of being which is free of engrams (Engram?  Er... Um...  Well.  You see.  Um...  Well, we'll just call them painful and/or traumatic memories that have been etched into your mind), unwanted emotions, unwanted emotions not readily available to the conscious mind.  Yes, I suppose it's nice to be free and clear of all that crumby stuff, but on the other side of the coin, I've always been a proponent of the idea that what we are and what the human experience is consists of this whole amalgam of experiences, and do sort of deny and escape these parts of yourself really doesn't make you a better person.  It seems less like healing and more like denial, in this regard.  The idea is not to be clear of your demons, but rather to understand them.  This is, of course, just a cursory refutation.  If I had more time, I'd continue, but I don't, so I won't.

2.  EXHIBIT

There's normal cool.  There's hipster cool.  And then there's Warhol cool.

Andy Warhol looks a scream, so they brought a bunch of his work over to our dusty little prairie city a little while ago and I leapt at the chance to go see it, and it was pretty darn cool.  It doesn't get much more hipster than Warhol and it's easy to dismiss him based on that alone, but in reality I have to say that he did some pretty cool things.  He was sort of like a modern day Lorenzo de Medici, only without the fabulous wealth and in New York instead of Florence.  It's a pretty cool thing to be at the centre of this huge art explosion with all these exciting new mediums popping up everywhere, having your hands in painting, photography, music, film, society.  I think that as much as he was an innovator he was a catalyst for many others.  It's easy to see the soup can and the picture of Mao with lipstick, but when you take a step back and look not at the pieces by themselves, but at the broad picture of who he was and what he meant artistically, he was a pretty cool dude.

3.  GAS

AUGH!!  Jesus, that's a creepy sign!  I've gonna have nightmares about this blog entry.

Poison gas as a weapon of war had been around for centuries, but not until World War I did it come into widespread use.  The war saw the use of gases such as tear gas, mustard gas, phosgene, and chlorine to suppress or kill enemy troops, and their use became accelerated as the war dragged on.  Mercifully, counter-measures (gas masks, etc) were simple enough to deploy, so chemical warfare only counted for about 4% of all deaths during WWI.  No, the machine gun was still king.

4.  INTERIOR

No one in this painting is "Clear".  Guaranteed.

"Interior" is the generally accepted name of this Edgar Degas work, painted in 1868-1869, but it also goes by a much more sinister name: "The Rape".  If you take a moment to look carefully at it, you'll start to see why.  The man, who bears the posture of one who is not a happy camper, is blocking the doorway.  The, face hidden from the viewers eyes, is partially naked while clothes have been strewn about the room.  Take special note of the lighting in the room, highlighting the woman's bright white undergarments while the man broods ominously in the shadows.  While this is not a happy work, it is nonetheless intense one.  The whole painting has the feeling of a powder keg that could go off at the slightest spark.  A masterpiece of fear, and definitely no Warhol.

5.  WELL

Google some pictures of Thelonious Monk.  Go ahead!  Now that man could wear a hat!

"Well, You Needn't" is the name of a jazz standard written by Thelonious Monk in 1944.  Apparently the song was named after singer (not ball player) Charlie Beamon.  When Monk said that he was naming the song after Charlie, the singer's reply became the name of the song instead.  The song itself is really cool because the chord progression throughout moves up and down by semi-tones.  I've always admired this style.  Very, very mid-fifties to listen to.  This version by Bud Shank is a little more down-tempo than most and smoother than any, for my money.  Also, another song using a similar chord progression is "Way Out Basie", written by the late, great Ernie Wilkins.  Cool, huh?

6.  MAJOR

Peter Ustinov, ladies and gentlemen!  ...  Well, the voice, anyway.

Man.  I remember reading Animal Farm.  That was not the most pleasant book to read, but it wasn't meant to be nice.  Dictatorships are not nice, and that's the point that is being made here.  In reality they are brutal, brutal things.  The character of Old Major is sort of a patriarchal one where the old stalwart envisions a place that may not be paradise, but will be better for everyone if everyone bands together.  Well, once he was gone, Napoleon (aka. Stalin) deforms Old Majors ideals and slowly warps the paradise into a prison.  This tale is a chilling one, and the more I think about it and remember it, the more that Animal Farm seems like a book that I doubt will ever, ever see the relevance of its message fade with time.

7.  SING

Stop for a moment.  Relax.  Clear your mind.  Now, can you think of a bigger goofball in jazz than this guy?

Now for another musical interlude and the name of this ballad is 'irony'.  There aren't many people who haven't heard the song Sing, Sing, Sing!  Whether you've gotten it from a movie or watching Glee, this song is one of the most famous from the big band jazz era.  Who wrote it?  Why, Louis Prima in 1935, of course.  Who made it famous?  Benny Goodman in this recording that I have linked here.  The irony of it all is that the famous arrangement of the song is an instrumental containing no singing whatsoever.

This isn't the first time one of Prima's songs got remade and became bigger hits (arguably) than his original arrangements, though.  Just A Gigolo got David Lee Roth-ed in what seemed like a good idea at the time, Jump, Jive, and Wail got significantly spiced up with the Brian Setzer treatment, and Sunday Kind of Love really found its perfect match with Etta James.  However, if you think Louis was only a star vicariously, check out some YouTube videos of him with Sammy Butera and Keely Smith and you'll see a dude who didn't need no stinking cover band to get the job done.

8.  PIPELINE

See those eyes?  Those cold, remorseless, unforgiving eyes?  That thousand-yard stare?

Well, that ends the musical interlude.  If you hate yourself, and I mean really hate yourself, rejoice!  I have a one way ticket to making your life even more miserable.  Tune in to BBC Radio Scotland at 9:05 pm local time every single Saturday night and listen to Pipeline as torture-master Gary West (pictured above) spends the next fifty-five excruciating minutes blasting out "top quality" bagpipe music for your listening annoyance.  Knock yourselves out - you may want to five minutes in.

9.  TRY

Next to Joe Clark, he's my favourite lovable loser of all time.

Speaking of thousand-yard stares, it is the opinion of Raccoon Inc. that to say that Ernest Shackleton tried and failed is not an entirely fair assessment.  Sure, his goal in 1914 was to set out from one end of Antarctica, cross the continent over the pole, and end up on the other side, and in that sense, yes he tried, and yes he failed.  However, when his ship, the Endurance, was trapped in an ice floe, he did not give up.  Nor did he give up when the ship sank after being crushed in the ice for just over ten months.  Nor did he give up hope when the ice floe they were on broke in half.  Nor did he give up hope when he and his crew reached inhospitable Elephant Island, the first time any of them had set foot on dry land in 497 days.  Nor did he give up hope at any point on the 800 mi. voyage the took over three weeks to arrive at South Georgia Island.  Nor did he give up during the 32 mile hike over mountainous terrain that took them 36 non-stop hours to get to the whaling station and safety at Stormness, and don't forget that they were just in a lifeboat for three weeks.  The really remarkable thing out of all of this is that despite everything that they had to endure, they did not lose a single man in the expedition.  Now that is what trying means.

Also, speaking of whaling, 'trying' is the name of the process whereby one renders the oil from whale blubber by boiling it in large pots, called try pots, and skimming the oil off the top as it rises to the surface.  Mmm...

10.  COOKY

Kinda looks like what the Beatles would see if they could see themselves walking across Abbey Road.

Gee, there sure is a lot of music in this list.  Anyway, the last entry is that of Cooky Puss, the 1983 EP by the Beastie Boys.  This record, while relatively insignificant on its own merits, marked the group's transition from punk rockers to rappers.  Their next album, 1985's Rock Hard, would be their first foray into what would become the form that they would find their true mojo: hip hop.  However, they did not abandon their punk roots entirely.  The Sounds of Science compilation features several punk songs, and "Sabotage" is often credited for kicking off the genre of music which would become a scourge for the remainder of the 90's: goatee metal rap.  Yuck.  In spite of this, the Beastie Boys have just recently been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, being the most diverse act to be inducted this year.

French Cartoon Characters and Monocles

So, tonight I'm going to go right off the rails here and talk about something a bit obscure.  Tonight the topic of conversation is some cartoons that I watched when I was younger which I have just absolutely cherished.  Their common theme is that they are all three products of the french speaking world - two from Belgium, one from France.  Also, monocles have inadvertently played an important role, oddly enough.  That aside, since Tintin is in theatres and is therefore currently and en vogue, I'll start with him, but there are a couple others that I'd like to have fun with tonight.  Now strap yourself in and get ready for some really, really cool stuff.


Grab your coat and lovable furry companion cause the shit's about to get real.

 So, like, when everyone was kids they all wanted to be cool things like farmers and prime ministers, but not me.  No sirree. I wanted to be an explorer!  I looked through all the encyclopedias at all of the of the flags of the different countries, marveled at how Antarctica was just ice all year round, looked at pictures of the Sahara Desert in amazement, and wondered what it must have been like to have tagged along with Marco Polo.  Well, watching Tintin when I was a kid was like the next best thing.  Tintin in Tibet!  The Cigars of the Pharaoh!  King Ottokar's Scepter!  Tintin seemingly went everywhere and did everything.  It was so amazing!  There was just something that struck me with awe seeing a red haired kid go exploring all over the world finding adventures in planes, trains, and automobiles, chasing after smugglers and mad scientists.  It was like this wonderful, fantastic world that I saw every week.  I loved it.

Roberto Rastapopoulos: Arch-villain.  You can tell he's the bad guy by the monocle.  For without it, he becomes...

...the delightful David Suchet!  It's kind of like a Clark Kent transformation thing.

There really wasn't much that I didn't like about the show or the characters' exploits.  I suppose in hindsight some of them had some pretty funky names (Cpt. Haddock, Prof. Calculus, Gen. Tapioca, et cetera ad nauseum) and were pretty blatant stereotypes (cranky old sea captain, absent minded professor, carribean strongman dictator, et cetera ad nauseum), but that was really besides the point.  This was one of those experiences where the sum was greater than that of the individual parts and what you were watching was just pure adventure on the screen.  It was, and is, amazing stuff.

Now the next subject that I'd like to look at is the one, the only, the legendary Arsène Lupin.

You know how sometimes the Japanese can take a really cool idea and beat it to death?

No, not that clown.  I mean the original!  This guy right here.


Do you miss the days when crooks were classy?  I'd love to see a dude in a top hat knock over a 7-11.

 But specifically, I mean this.

The archetypal gentleman thief.  Even moreso than Bo and Luke Duke.

 Oh, um.  Hold on.  Before I go any further, I have to reconcile something.  You know how earlier on I said that you can tell the bad guy because he's wearing a monocle?  Well, I take that back.  This is a good guy and he wears a monocle.  Only he's not really a good guy.  Well, he sort of is.  More of a neutral guy.  Sort of.  Well, I guess he poses as a bad guy, so I guess the rule still holds.

ANYWAY!

I couldn't tell you how long I've spent watching Nighthood on YTV when I was a kid.  A long time.  I saw every single episode and just fell in love with this guy.  He was like Robin Hood only way cooler.  This guy was, like, cat burglar, escape artist, acrobat, race car driver, disguise artist, and martial arts expert all rolled into one.  He was like this evil genius, only he wasn't really evil at all.  He just did everything that bad guys did, but only better so that he could rip them off and make them look bad and-

Ocean needed eleven.  Often more.  Ford only needs five.

YEAH!  Just like that!  Sorta.  Gee, no wonder I like that show so much...  No, but what makes Lupin cool was that he was this amazing anti-hero that was the equal to Sherlock Holmes.  Yeah, you see that in the french-speaking world, Lupin is just as popular as Holmes is in the english-speaking world, and really when you think about it the two are kind of similar characters that are just on the opposite sides of the mirror.  What makes Lupin special (and, by the way, the show Nighthood kind of gives you a bit of a skewed version of the ideal Lupin character) is that he is essentially an anarchist.  Unlike Robin Hood or Leverage or the A-Team...

Ah, chauvinism.  You know, chauvinism means both zealous patriotism AND sexism.  It's true!

.., he didn't really rob from the rich and give to the poor, he robbed from the rich and gave to himself.  He's the prime example of a literary character that walks up to a big, nasty, evil dude and says, "Hey you!  Yeah you.  Let me tell you a secret.  On Thursday night at 11:00 pm, I'm going to steal your watch.  See you then."  And then he goes and steals it!  Right out from under their nose.  It's great!  Totally amazing stuff.  I have to order his books sometime soon in the new year.  I keep meaning to read them all, but I never get around to it.

Now, on to one of my favourite dynamic duos.  Who are they?  Why, they are...

I've only ever known one person to smoke a pipe.  Incidentally, he was also a professor.

...and they are here to save the free world.  From who, you ask?

How to be a cartoon bad guy step 1: look like this.

A bad guy with a monocle!  So, who are Blake and Mortimer?  Well, Captain Blake is a pilot of Welsh origin who's also a bigshot in MI5.  Think of him as a cross between James Bond and Hastings, to keep the Poirot/Belgian theme going.  He's the straight man in the operation that cruises in to save Professor Mortimer when he finds himself in trouble.  And who is Mortimer?  A brilliant Scottish physicist.  These two unlikely partners met in Colonial India and have remained friends ever since.

There are some twenty-minutes-into-the-future elements in each of these three concepts (Tintin on the Moon, The Von Luppo Affair), but as far as taking you to some REALLY fantastic places, Blake and Mortimer take the cake.  Atlantis.  Time travel.  You name it.  This is the kind of thing that could really take your imagination and run with it.  I suppose you could look at it as a sort of a spectrum where on one side you have super thief Lupin grounded more or less in reality, on the other side Blake and Mortimer going out there and having epic adventures with jet fighters, chemical warfare, and lost civilizations, but then in the middle you have Tintin who kind of sits comfortably between the two extremes.

Oh, and by the way, as a parting shot for Blake and Mortimer, consider this: the pilot episode of the Venture Brothers.

Please don't ask me what a "Rusty Venture" is...

This hip and cool daddy-o contemporary Adult Swim show heavily references all kinds of adventure type comics from James Bond to Jonny Quest, the Hardy Boys, Scooby Doo, the Justice League, and on and on and on.  But the pilot episode is about the "Oo-Ray" that Rusty shows off at the UN.  Well, the "Oo-Ray" is a direct reference to Blake and Mortimer's "U-Ray".  So, there you have it.  Blake and Mortimer are not nothing.

And so there are the three really cool cartoons that I've really enjoyed over the years.  All three french, all three involve monocles.  Mission accomplished.  Now, since I touched upon the Venture Bros. earlier, I would now be totally remiss if I did not include Dr. Girlfriend into the conversation.

Fantastic!  Well, that's all the time we've got for this edition.  Thank you for reading and stay warm as we descend deeper into winter.  Oh, and Happy New Year, too!  Good night!