Mike Sterling's Progressive RuinAlone, unmourned, and unloved since 1969

§ July 26th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

So I was poking around the fanfilms available on Theforce.net, and found another fan-made superhero trailer in the style of Batman: Dead End and World’s Finest: Grayson, featuring an older Dick Grayson returning to Gotham to avenge the murder of Batman. It’s fun for sad old comic fans like me, and I would enjoy seeing a full-length version of this film. Amazing what they can put together on a small budget…there’s a behind-the-scenes documentary available for download as well.

It is nice to see a live-action version of Commissioner Gordon that actually looks like the comic-book version:

Elsewhere you can find a longer fan-film – Nightwing: A Knight in Bludhaven, that’s perhaps a little less polished, but it at least attempts to tell a full story.

Also found on Theforce.net is Secret Spider-Man Movie – fans angry at how comic book movies portray their favorite heroes plan to make their own version of Spider-Man 3 before Hollywood does. The trailer doesn’t show any home-made Spider-action…rather, it’s just interviews with comic fans about why they don’t think Hollywood treats superheroes with respect, starting with some brief comments from director Richard Donner. (Actually, I think they’re missing a bet…instead of making a Spider-Man film, they should do a documentary on comic fandom.) I got a laugh out of their “Why Hollywood Blows” link – they didn’t like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine? They must have seen a different X-Men movie than I did.

§ July 25th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

1. Today’s giant feathered phallic symbol brought to you by Alan Moore and Bruce Timm:

2. Pal Ian has begun his San Diego Con reports. Apparently he was having trouble with his backpack.

3. Pal Dorian saw Catwoman…and lived! And he kinda liked it. Go read his review.

4. Customer: “Hi…I’m looking for a comic called Batman: Goth. Do you have it?

Us: “Um…I don’t think there’ve been any Batman comics by that name.”

Customer: “Are you sure? I remember seeing the cover…it definitely said ‘Batman Goth’ on the front.”

Us: “Yes, we’re sure, there’s no such…wait a second:”

Yes, the customer did mean Batman: Gotham Knights #1.

Actually, a comic called Batman: Goth would probably sell like gangbusters. How ’bout a Goth Batman/Lenore crossover?

Okay, I’ll stop now.

5. The Variety magazine Bags and Boards weblog posted a Letterman-style Top Ten list read by Sarah Michelle Gellar regarding her reasons why she hadn’t attended the ‘Con before. Very obviously someone slapped together a list of comic book-related jokes and forced the gal to read them off, and I’m certain she didn’t get many of the jokes she was reading. Maybe the “Phantom Zone” reference, but the David/McFarlane debate? This isn’t meant as a slam at her…I just felt sort of embarrassed for her.

6. My last post (on movies and such) was long and rambling and I apologize. If you require any clarification, just leave me a comment or send an e-mail.

7. Speaking of movies…today I had a vision of the forthcoming Aliens Vs. Predator movie, and I saw a carful of Predators chasing a carful of Aliens through the streets of San Francisco, with some of the Predators and Aliens leaning out of their respective car windows and shaking fists at each other. I have now ruined the movie for myself, since this scene will certainly not be in the film and I will be terribly disappointed at its omission.

The last time I’m mentioning the whole Jack Black as Green Lantern thing on my weblog, I swear to God…

§ July 25th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on The last time I’m mentioning the whole Jack Black as Green Lantern thing on my weblog, I swear to God…

…at least until there’s some kind of real news about it.

Anyway, I had one final thing to say about that particular bit of theoretical casting:

Michael Keaton.

Man alive, did people hate the idea of Michael Keaton as Batman. “But that guy does wacky comedies,” everyone said. “He’s not heavily muscled!” etc. etc. But, in retrospect, the casting of Michael Keaton as Batman is probably one of the few good things about that movie. (It certainly wasn’t the screenplay or the direction.) It seems to me that the same people who were complaining the most about Keaton’s casting prior to the film’s release later lamented Keaton’s loss after the second film.

Okay, a Jack Black Green Lantern film is a slightly different situation, since it is supposedly a comedy…but basically, all we really know about this alleged film is that 1) Black is GL, and 2) it’s a comedy. Hey, it could be a really good comedy…we don’t know yet. It’s way too early to go into histrionics based solely on casting. We don’t know who’s writing, we don’t know who’s directing, we don’t know what sort of perspective on the whole GL thing they’re gonna be taking. You might all be pleasantly surprised, for all you know.

Yes, I know chances are it’ll be bad simply because most Hollywood movies are bad…but the presence of Jack Black doesn’t automatically mean it’s going to be stinky. Besides, to borrow an observation from another weblogger (I don’t remember which one…let me know, please!) — what do you want from a GL movie? A serious take on a guy who makes big green fists with his magic ring?

And that kinda sorta leads me into this: a couple days ago there was a brief exchange on pal Dorian‘s weblog thingie regarding the impact of films on comic sales…Dorian asserts that there is an impact, the commenter remarks that it’s not really the case at his shop.

Well, in my experience, there’s the first Tim Burton Batman film, and then there’s everything else. Bat-fever was at its height in the late-80s, centered around this film, coupled with the peak faddishness of comic books in general. So, business was way up, people couldn’t get enough of Bat-stuff (we had waiting lists for T-shirts, for pete’s sake), and everyone, comic fans and newcomers to the field alike, were excited about Batman. New Batman comics sold like crazy, back issues flew out the door, and there was an attendant increase in prices on those back issues. (Example…a couple years prior to the movie, I bought a Joker #1 out of a dime box at a convention. After the movie, Joker #1 became a $30 book in the price guides!)

The superhero movies that followed never even came close to this sort of crazed activity. However, that’s not to say the movies have had no impact on comic sales. Recently, the Hellboy film was very successful in getting people interested in the comic (despite difficulties in getting our trade paperback stock replenished in a timely manner), spurred along by the 25-cent Hellboy comic Dark Horse Comics produced just for the occasion.

Marvel could have learned from Dark Horse’s example, as I’ll never understand the decision to publish 25-cent versions of Hulk and Daredevil to tie in with those respective movies that don’t feature the title characters in any significant fashion. The Hulk comic in particular is absolutely shameful…the Hulk’s arm appears in a flashback panel. That’s it. That’s all the Hulk you get from that 25-cent comic. No kid is going to buy that and want to come back for more Hulk comics. Fortunately for us, we have a significant back issue supply of both titles that do feature Hulk and Daredevil in significant amounts, and thus we were able to give the public what it demanded and what Marvel itself wasn’t currently supplying.

Spider-Man is a whole different matter. Kids always want Spider-Man comics. Yes, there was a brief bump in sales after the first film (people were even snapping up the pretty-much universally-reviled Spider-Man: Chapter One series). I didn’t see much of a difference in sales in relation to the second film, though most everyone seemed pretty sick of Doctor Octopus appearances.

There was also a surge of interest in the Alan Moore properties The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and From Hell…in the former case, League had been selling well anyway, but the movie seemed to get a few people (regulars and new customers alike) to try it out. In the case of the latter film, the number of people who picked it up because of the film was matched by the the number of people who picked it up, looked at it, and decided not to buy it because it didn’t look anything like the movie (i.e. it was good).

For the non-superhero movies…there was a brief spurt of interest in American Splendor, and I managed to sell several back issues of the magazine, as well as the two available collections. Ghost World too had an increase in interest…unfortunately, we had a great deal of difficulty getting it in stock for pretty much the entire theatrical run of the film. However, we can get all we need now, and it remains a fairly steady seller.

Now you may have noticed that I haven’t mentioned X-Men. That’s because the X-Men movies haven’t really had much of an impact on the sales of the comics, since the comics themselves are pretty much resistant to acquiring new readers (the sole recent exception being Grant Morrison’s run). Rather, the X-Men films serve as an example of another phenomenon I’ve noticed in regards to movies’ impact on comic sales: people either dumping their collections or suddenly acquiring an interest in buying old “key” issues. Prior to, and for a brief period shortly after, the release of a major superhero movie, we’ll get a slew of people hauling in their cardboard boxes or supermarket bags filled with issues of the superhero in question, hoping that they’ve got a fortune on their hands. At the same time, there is a certain group of people that decide that now is the time to start investing in back issues of that superhero’s title, since they’re certain to skyrocket in value following the release of the film. (Hint: they don’t. They increase at the same slow and steady rate they always do…unless it’s Howard the Duck, then they plummet for a few years.) You’d think these two groups would be perfectly matched for us to make a lot of money buying and selling back issues…but the people selling comics never have any comics for sale that the people buying the comics want. This activity dries up almost immediately after the film has been out for about a week or so.

There are other examples, too…pal Dorian mentions that he can always tell when one of the Swamp Thing movies has been on TV, since kids come charging in looking for the comics. Just yesterday, Dorian theorized that Judge Dredd must have just been on, since he had kids looking for those. And then there’s Catwoman, which has slightly increased the number of people looking at Catwoman goodies, but not by a whole lot…then again, Catwoman is one of those characters that has always had a non-comics fan following…more as an icon than a character, in much the same way the general public is aware of the Silver Surfer as an image rather than a character in a story.

So, to wrap up this huge block of typing that almost none of you made it though, comic movies in general do give our comic sales a slight increase, mostly with kids, though adults will look into the non-superhero comics that have inspired films. Hellboy is probably the one big crossover book, in that kids and adults were suddenly very interested in the character (thanks to the publisher’s providing a 25-cent comic and a stand-up book display).

(JB as GL picture courtesy pal Corey)

§ July 24th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

From the people who brought you the Batman: Dead End fan film/trailer, comes World’s Finest…yes, featuring Superman and Batman:

§ July 24th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

Giggle Comics #52 (April 1948)

Linkweblogging, because I’ve got nothin’ to say at the moment.

§ July 23rd, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Linkweblogging, because I’ve got nothin’ to say at the moment.

Pal Andy has posted a link to Superhero Supplies. Not running yet, but maybe I can finally get that cape I’ve always wanted!

Someone posted in pal Dorian’s comments section who really doesn’t get the point. Part of the reason of having a weblog is getting to vent a little…that doesn’t mean we “hate the comics, hate the customers, hate (pretentious phrasing coming in) ‘the scene'” – we like comics and our customers just fine. Relax there, Sparky.

Extensive discussion of Seaguy’s pals here. (Well, it made me laugh.)

By Crom! Mark Evanier reveals that a couple forthcoming Groo the Wanderer series will be (titles tentative) Groo Meets Conan and Groo Meets Tarzan. Quoth Mark: “No, I am not kidding.”

Via Metafilter – Fleep, a comic strip solely about a person trapped inside a phone booth covered in concrete. And it’s good!

§ July 22nd, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

I’m still a little sick and a bit tired, so I’ll keep this relatively short.

• I did read the normalman 20th Anniversary comic…and yes, it’s full of cheap jokes and heavy-handed criticism of the comics market (not to mention a caricature of a comic shop owner that we’ve seen only about a million times before)…but it’s all still likable, and it’s hard to resist the cheerful obtuseness of the greatest superhero of them all, Captain Everything. A nice touch is a cover gallery of normalman’s comic book appearances…and it appears I have them all. Yes, even Epic Lite. I’m apparently a normalman completist. (Though I didn’t see Max the Magnificent…wasn’t Captain Everything in that comic?)
  

• Nice surprise for Swamp Thing fans in the new issue of Batman Adventures (#16).
  

• I see pal Dorian has got himself linked by Fanboy Rampage. Lucky bastard.
  

• Speaking of pal Dorian, he’s mentioned to me a couple times at work that somewhere on the John Byrne Forum, some industrious individual “rewrote” events in Identity Crisis so that You-Know-Who wasn’t sexually assaulted and killed. I can’t bring myself to look…it’s too sad.
  

• Catwoman opens tomorrow…get your tickets yet? This review broke my Sarcast-o-meter.
  

• Dear customer – please don’t get testy with me when I don’t immediately comprehend your arcane comic-collection cataloging system. When you ask me for a certain back issue using the specific code you use to log your comics, that doesn’t tell me anything. Just say, “I need issue 3 of the new She-Hulk series, please.” Is that so hard?
  

• Dear another customer – you don’t need to run out to your car to get the two more cents you need to pay for your item. I have a penny jar by the register for a reason. However, dear yet another customer – that jar isn’t there so you can dig out $1.55 in pennies and nickels to help cover the cost of your $2.25 comic.
  

And that’s pretty much it. Oh, and congrats to pal Tom and pal Corey for finally getting on the Comics Weblog Update-A-Tron 3000.

San Diego, new comics, and misanthropy.

§ July 21st, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on San Diego, new comics, and misanthropy.

Well, I don’t know how many of you are winging your way to the San Diego Comic Con as I type this, but alas, yet again I am not able to make it down there despite only being about a four hour drive north of the event. It’s probably just as well, as 1) I don’t really have the money for it right now, 2) that many comics in one location may drive my love for comics right out of me, and 3) I hate people.

I know pal Ian is on his way down, so hopefully he’ll come back with some nice war stories. I do get to live San Diego vicariously through some of my customers…a year or two back, I had a longtime customer of mine come in to show off his latest original art acquisitions from the Con. It was a piece he had bought from Jill Thompson, featuring the image from the cover of Death: At Death’s Door. I said, “hey, cool, you got Thompson to duplicate the cover art!”

Customer: “Noooo…not exactly.”

Me: “Really? It looks just like the cov….” (suddenly, it dawns on me) “This is the actual original cover art?”

Customer: “Yup.”

He paid a good chunk of change, too, but by golly it was worth it. It’s a very nice piece.

Usually some friends and coworkers bring back freebies from the convention for me…I accumulate pin-back buttons, and there’s no shortage of those at San Diego. I have an autographed Milk ‘n’ Cheese fridge magnet from there, as well as a couple Hellboy autograph cards with original Mignola sketches on the back. And pal Sean (AKA “Fleshhead” – you may have seen his handle pop up in my comments sections) usually gets me something neat…the Harvey Birdman wall clock he found for me was brilliant. So, basically, I stay home from San Diego and get a load of unnecessary stuff from the convention anyway. Ah, it’s good to have minions!

Anyway, if you’re going (or if you’re there already) have a good time!

Meanwhile, back at the comics ranch, I was dealing with a super-late UPS shipment: instead of having our comics in our hands 1 1/2 to 2 hours before opening, we got them 10 minutes before opening…and since this is San Diego Con Week, of course a lot of stuff came out. I’ve never seen so many manga books come in at once. Oy. And about a third of our Daredevil shipment had heavily damaged corners, which is frustrating. And then there’s the whole box of toys that never seemed to show up…though they’re supposedly on their way to the shop tomorrow. And I was fighting the beginning of a cold all day…there’s nothing like breaking down and counting new comics then pulling for the comic savers while having to break off every six minutes or so to blow a pint or two out of the mucous spigot that has somehow replaced your nose during the night. Yeah, I know, lovely image, but you’re better off reading it than I was dealing with it. (Back off, let me whine.) I’m on a combination of medications now, so I’m feeling a little better.

Usually on Wednesday nights, I like to do a little run-down of some of the week’s new titles, but I’m not sure really if that does anyone any good, really. Maybe I’d be better off waiting a couple of days and seeing if I have anything of real value to say about any of the new arrivals, rather than just spouting off a quick line or two.

Ah, heck, let me say a couple things, anyway:

Plastic Man #8 – those of you who didn’t care for the initial storyline in this series may find this one more to your liking, as PM finds himself suddenly confronted by vast shifts in comic book continuity! The opening gag (parodying a certain artist known for his painted-comics work) is a hoot…I’m sure the artist in question would be offended terribly.

Flash #212 – if super-characters in adult situations aren’t to your liking (and some of you really don’t like that, given the reaction to Identity Crisis), this issue of Flash will probably not be your cup of tea either. This issue focuses on Rogues Gallery member the Mirror Master, and has quite the disturbing mirror-image cover. It is nice to see at least a minor reference to the Mirror Master’s Animal Man appearances within.

Demo #8 – I would get thrown out of the He-Man AiT/Planetlar Club if I didn’t at least mention that this came out this week.

Spaghetti Western – this is the new book from Scott Morse, and boy it looks good. Alas, I left it behind at the store, but now I think I need to own it. pal Dorian bought a copy, so I’m sure we’ll see a review or something from him soon.

normalman Twentieth Anniversary Special – I hate being able to measure parts of my life in 20-year spans, and yet it really has been 20 years since I first bought normalman off that new arrivals rack. Still my favorite Valentino work (I really haven’t been able to get into anything else he’s done…nothing against the guy), my attachment to the normalman character is enough to pick up this comic, even though it seems to go to the “let’s make fun of comic conventions” well that has been gone to a few too many times already.

Actually, it would be nice to see the original normalman series in a trade again…Slave Labor did a black and white trade back in ’87, which is nice, but I think this book really needs to be see in color. And I was researching that bit of business (about whether anyone was doing a new trade, not about old trades…I have the old trade), I found out that the previous normalman comic, normalman/Megaton Man, came out 10 years ago! Oh, I grow old, I grow old.

Okay, that’s enough. I’m hauling my heavily-medicated carcass to bed. See you tomorrow.

§ July 21st, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

Okay, here’s a post where I don’t mention, you know, that thing. Or that other thing.

Here’s a page devoted to Bazooka Joe bubble gum comics, though there’s also a gallery of bubble gum comic also-rans.

Did you know Howard Cruse drew some Bazooka Joe strips? If you look at the illustration for “Mid 1980s Box Comic” on the Bubble Gum Comics Collection page, that’s one of his.

And here, courtesy pal Cully, is my favorite Bazooka Joe strip:

§ July 20th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

I can get cranky in the mornings, can’t I?

Just to prove I still love you, here’s a gallery of stills from the best live-action version of Batman. (Well, second best, actually…this is the best live action version of Batman.)

And don’t forget this: the Siamese Human Knot web site. (You mean I missed the 36th anniversary?)