Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Bennett looks at the new Rainbow Brite comic, the return of Doctor Who, and MST3K.

Back in July right before my unplanned sabbatical, I wrote how I never could have imagined Rainbow Brite* getting her own comic (see “Confessions of a Comic Book Guy - The ‘Most Unexpected Cartoon Character Of Them All’ Returns”). For the record, this wasn’t a case of me looking down on a decades-old girl-skewing cartoon character. I just assumed the property had been neglected too long to sustain a revival - and I really should have known better.  Like it or not, we seem to be living in a world where no intellectual property can remain dormant for long.  At least not as long as there’s the possibility of someone profiting anyway.  All of the licensed comics being published is a solid indicator of that.  And there are a lot of them. 

Honestly, I had no idea just how many of them there were until I sat down and started making a list.  I have undoubtedly missed a few titles, but I know currently there’s:

Bubba-Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood Suckers, WWE, Star Trek Vs. Transformers, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Stranger Things, Jeepers Creepers, John Wick, Voltron, Steven Universe, Rocko’s Modern Life, Regular Show, Nancy Drew, Garfield, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Dinosaucers, G.I, Joe, Charlie’s Angels, Underdog, Xena, My Little Pony, Rick & Morty, Star Wars Adventures, Tomb Raider, Transformers Lost Light, Invader Zim, Doctor Who, The Dark Crystal, Battlestar Galactica, James Bond, Lone Ranger, Duck Tales, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and of course, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return.

Well, Rainbow Brite #1 is shipping this week and after learning it’s written by Jeremy Whitley, who wrote The Unstoppable Wasp, and drawn by Brittney Williams, who drew Goldie Vance (two comics I really enjoyed), I’m putting a copy of it on my Must Read pile.  And retailers really shouldn’t underestimate the sales potential of this kind of comic.  I learned that back in 2011 when at Super-Fly Comics & Games, IDW’s Strawberry Shortcake was outselling Wolverine.

Probably the main thing most fans are looking forward to this week is the premiere of the new season of Doctor Who on Sunday, October 7th on BBC America, almost certainly due to the fact that the actor taking on the role of The Doctor will for the time be a woman. But according to the Variety piece,  “Jodie Whittaker on Taking Over ‘Doctor Who’ and Why She Knows She’s Getting Equal Pay,” there are a lot more changes going on behind the scenes.‘

According to new showrunner Chris Chibnall. “Coming into the show, one of the questions we were asking was what does ‘Doctor Who’ look like in the age of Netflix?”  To begin with, “to embrace the new, more cinematic world of TV” this year they’ll be “using anamorphic lenses, changing the aspect ratio to 2:1, and using modern sound and lighting techniques.”

They’ll also be modernizing The Doctor’s relationships; instead of having a single, slavishly devoted (almost always) female sidekick (what’s known as a “companion”), they’ll have a diverse ensemble of human friends.  To again quote from the story: “I think having a set of characters gives the broadest audience an access point,” Chibnall says, so that whoever tunes in has “a character that they could connect to, who resonates with them, or they might know somebody like.”

Speaking of Netflix (as I just was, ever so briefly), the company gave fans a reason to really look forward to Thanksgiving this year when The AV Club gave us this “Exclusive: Mystery Science Theater 3000’s new season gets a fitting premiere date.”  What makes this date particularly auspicious is it’s “long been synonymous with MST3K marathons and premieres.” In particular, the self-explanatory Turkey Day Marathon.  This was a marathon of classic MST3K episodes which originally ran on Comedy Central, but in recent years the tradition was revived and on Thanksgiving, episodes could be seen on the Shout TV Pluto channel and YouTube. But this year you’ll be able to binge watch an entire new season of MST3K which will really give you something to do that day besides interacting with your family or watching the big football game.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.