§ September 21st, 2006§ Filed under UncategorizedComments Off on Special "Baseball Cap" post.
(For new comics day, we received a baseball cap with an embroidered Green Lantern logo. I kept it aside, as I thought it was a special order for someone, and needed to check the paperwork to see whom it was meant for. And then Green Lantern fan pal Corey entered the store….)
Me: “Hey, Corey, did you order this Green Lantern baseball cap?”
Corey: “Not me…I’d rather have a cowboy hat with the Lantern logo. A black cowboy hat.”
M: “How ’bout a big ol’ sombrero with the logo?”
C: “Yeah, that’d be cool!”
M: “Or how ’bout a hat in the actual shape of the Lantern logo. You’d put your head in the hole in the center there….”
C: “Yeah, um….”
M: “Or a hat in the actual shape of Hal Jordan’s head!”
C: “Like that ‘Big Head’ Mystery Science Theatre 3000 skit?”
M (singing): “‘Who’s that guy with the big head? Big head!'”
C: “That’s the one.”
M: “No, the MST3K guys had their heads actually inside the Big Heads they were wearing. I’m thinking more like Marvel’s Bi-Beast…with Hal’s full-size head sitting directly on top of your head.”
“You wanna start controversy…simply write a long post about how Marvel comics are better than DC and that all DC comics suck. Since it appears that the comics blogsphere is made up of only lovers of DC comics, you should get repeatedly beaten down, linked to, and made fun of for even thinking about saying that.”
Um…what? Seems to me that DC books and business policies get knocked along with Marvel’s among the fine folks in the comicsweblogosphere, when deserved (and even when it’s not, admittedly). And ask me someday about the amount of grief I took for being one of the only weblogging defenders of the wondrous beauty that is All-Star Batman and Robin. I took more crap for defending that DC title than for anything else I’ve done on this site.
Perhaps there is a slight leaning toward DC among the comic-noscenti, but it’s hardly the 100% bias implied in that comment. And, hey, if you really think it’s a problem (and you apparently do, since I’ve seen you leave similar comments at other sites)…start up your pro-Marvel weblog and tip the balance in the other direction. And let me know when you do so I can add it to my blogroll. None of that is meant to be sarcastic or picking on you or anything…I honestly don’t see an extremely lopsided favoring of one company over another among webloggers.
I just want to use this space to tell everybody that pal Tom has a Munden’s Bar baseball cap that he wears all the time. That is all.
Didn’t leave myself much time to discuss some of the week’s new comics, so…Nextwave #8 – funny; Civil War #4 – also funny, but I don’t think it was intended to be; 52 #20 – the space stuff is the least interesting part of the book to me, but does finally give us an origin of sorts for the Emerald Eye that people have been joking about for years; Following Cerebus #9 – an extra-sized issue featuring a lengthy discussion between Dave Sim and Neal Adams…oh, this should go well; Creation of the X-Men (and the other Marvel Rosen books) – these hardcover books for children on the origins of various Marvel characters and teams are pretty neat, but that $21.95 price point is completely insane for these thin, tiny books; Blade #1 – will Marvel be able to sell a Blade book this time? Has nice Chaykin art, anyway; Krypto the Superdog #1 – that design for Ace the Bathound is absolutely spot-on perfect; Claw the Cancelled Unconquered #4 – I wasn’t expecting this comic to do well from the get-go, but boy, it sure tanked harder than expected at our shop; Astonishing X-Men #17 – that cover kills me; X-Men: First Class #1 – “What kind of an X-Man do you take me for?” “First class.” Nothing to say about the book, just wanted to make that Firesign Theatre reference.
“Rumors are going around that there will be one. Is this true?”
“Apparently so. I also hear that Todd McFarlen is going to write and direct it.”
“That will be good.”
“If it is Spawn 2, I hope they get the original cast back. But since it’s been almost ten years since the first Spawn movie, I wouldn’t mind if they just started over, there I would accept a new cast.”
“McFarlane talked about this at the Image ComiCon thing or whatever. a) It WILL be a restart. It will be a cheap movie, he’s writing and directing. Also, he’s making it a very dark and gritty film, wth influence from such films as LA Confidential. Spawn will not seak a single word in the movie.”
“I’d despise the idea of Spawn not talking at all. It kind of ruins the mysteriousness of the character.”
“In the story I guess it would eventually, but there will always be problems. Just like there will always be people who discriminate against blacks. But in my own personal opinion evolution is a load of crap, and in real life we won’t have to worry about mutants anyway. :P”
“No. Blacks do not equal mutants. Blacks are humans with merely a different skin color. Mutants are people who can create volcanoes in their backyard….”
“they could but why if it ever comes to that then the x-men are of no use anymore”
“they could still be of use…people change…there is sentinals and so on and so forth”
“begrudgery is bound to creep in, manifesting itself as anti mutant feeling…”
“…What I don’t understand is why mutants are so scared of other humans. They have reality-warpers among them. If things get too bad, just tell them to warp reality.”
All of these questions from this thread rule. Check ’em out:
“Just thought of a few situations that I don’t know if they are possible or not and thought I’d ask about it. And I’m classifying this as character vs. situation OR power vs. power
1. Can Venom bond with Collosus when he’s metal? 2. Can Classic Black Tom Cassidy block out Black Canary’s scream? (The Cassidy that was immune to Banshee) 3. Can Gambit, with enough power, charge up air particles? 4. What would happen if Rogue touched Martian Manhunter? 5. Could Hulk, if he got mad enough, break through a [Green Lantern]’s shield? 6. If Gambit charges up a metal object, could Magneto stop it from exploding? 7. Could Kitty phase through Invisible Woman’s shield? 8. Could Kitty phase through a GL’s shield? 9. What would happen if Banner had his bones bonded with metal? Would he not be able to grow if he became the Hulk? 10. I once heard the Nightcrawler teleported by transferring to a different dimension. If this is true, could he stay there? 11. Is Juggernaught unstoppable if he’s not moving?”
Someone has a go at giving thorough answers…here are some excerpts:
“1. Can Venom bond with Collosus when he’s metal? – Yes. Colossus is organic steel. The key word being ORGANIC.”
“3. Can Gambit, with enough power, charge up air particles? – Probably if he had herald-level power, yea. Otherwise, no.”
“4. What would happen if Rogue touched Martian Manhunter? – She’d probably turn Green, and gain his powers. Rogue’s powers work on Aliens. She showed this when she absorbed a fraction King Hyperions powers.”
“9. What would happen if Banner had his bones bonded with metal? – He’d die. Would he not be able to grow if he became the Hulk? – If he had them bonded to him when Banner he’d die. If he had them bonded to Hulk he’d probably still be able to grow, but his bones would break because the adamantium wouldnt grow, and then he’d just regrow his bones over the adamantium.”
“11. Is Juggernaught unstoppable if he’s not moving? – That doesnt make sense.”
§ September 19th, 2006§ Filed under UncategorizedComments Off on Come to think of it, I already got enough grief for that sixth one.
So I was looking at my site, and what’s been going on in the comicsweblogosphere, and I decided that there’s something my site needs and has sadly been lacking.
Controversy.
Yeah, that’s right: controversy. Big heaping piles of it. The kind that inspires hate e-mail, people sniping at each other in the comments sections, links from outraged folks, blood running in the streets, brother fighting against brother…you know, like that.
So I’m trying to decide which of these topics to discuss, regardless of my actual support of the arguments presented, to attract the type of negative attention I haven’t been receiving:
Superheroines: Are Their Breasts Big Enough?
The Punisher And Other Positive Gay Role Models
Which X-Men Comic Should I Recommend to My Non-Comics Reading Friends?
Manga Are Comics? Puh-LEASE.
Hey, Didn’t I See That Thing in That One Comics Magazine on Dorian’s Site First?
All-Star Batman and Robin – A Great Batman Comic or The Greatest Batman Comic?
The Big Question in Comics Journalism: Reprinting The Whole Press Release or Just Part of It
If I Catch One More of You Cheapskates Trying to Mooch Free Reads off Several Comics in My Store, I’m Gonna Kick Your Ass
Strangers in Paradise & Sandman – Pretty Much The Only Titles Female Comic Readers Need or Want
Superheroes Saving The Comics Industry
Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, & Sue Dibny: Thank God Someone Finally Killed Them Off
The Effects of X-Men Readers Accidentally Being Exposed to Quality During Morrison’s Run on The Title
The ’60s Batman TV Show: More of A Faithful Adaptation Than You Folks Are Willing to Admit
§ September 18th, 2006§ Filed under UncategorizedComments Off on We like the Weird Al.
…And yes, it does involve comic books, somewhat:
EDIT: Video has been removed, but you can hear a stream of the song (“White and Nerdy”) at Weird Al’s Myspace page, where the video is going to be uploaded eventually. So WATCH THAT (MY)SPACE.
§ September 18th, 2006§ Filed under UncategorizedComments Off on "It wouldn’t do to have a naked Hulk running around."
Some of you folks who’ve been reading my dumb weblog for a while may remember when I was looking for a particular house ad for DC’s Hex series (the series that took the Old West character of Jonah Hex and made him all sci-fi ‘n’ stuff, in case you didn’t remember). Well, I didn’t find the one I thought I remembered, but it’s a similar one that commenter Layne had mentioned:
It was in Jonah Hex #89 (Feb ’85), and why it didn’t occur to me back then to go through the latter Jonah Hex issues to find the ad, I don’t know. And yeah, I know I mention in the comments section that I have a “cunning plan” for all this Hex stuff, and I still sorta do, but it’s going to have to wait until I get more of that “free time” I keep hearing about.
And as long as I’m just throwing up random scans, here’s one from Dynamite Magazine #3 (1974):
That’s just a lead-in to a reprinting of a couple pages from Hulk #1 (1962), and, alas, no actual heavy rapping with the Hulk is involved. The closest you get is a one page FAQ on ol’ Jade Jaws titled “Handy Hunks of Hulk History to Hold Over Your Friends” (“Until They Beat You Up For Talking About The Hulk All The Time” being the unstated conclusion of that phrase). For example:
No, that just wouldn’t do at all.
A couple days back, that rascally Chris Sims posted the Most Silver Agey word balloon in the entire Silver Age, and, yeah, that pretty much takes the cake. But since reading that post, I’ve found myself spotting panels and bits of dialogue here and there that make me say, “Yeah, that’s it, that’s the Silver Age!” Here’s one of them:
I love you, Robot Jimmy Olsen. That panel is from Superman #218 (July ’69), in a story reprinted from Action Comics #273 (Feb ’61).
I’m only presenting this next sequence (from Superman #225, April ’70) because it made me laugh for no good reason:
Yeah, I know, it’s Superman keeping another Superman in a cage…it’s a long story, and not entirely worth the trip. But really, what the heck is Super-Chess? Superman made up his own chess variant, and named it after himself? Man.
Okay, now I’ve seen the cover (of Superman #216, May ’69) for this next story dozens of times at the shop…Joe Kubert covers always catch the eye, but never did I look inside the comic until this weekend. So there’s this U.S. soldier in Vietnam, grown to massive size and apparently fighting for the other side, which leads another soldier to dub him thusly:
KING CONG. Oh good Lord.
And should you ever find yourself in a similar situation, fighting an apparent turncoat who’s been turned into a giant and now fighting for the Viet Cong, and Superman isn’t around to help, here’s a useful piece of advice:
§ September 17th, 2006§ Filed under UncategorizedComments Off on "I could blog when I wanna / Comment where I oughta / If I only had a brain…."
So if Tim can post about Star Trek because I posted about Star Wars novels, then I can post about Star Wars novels again.
See how that works? Yeah, me neither.
Anyway, I have a flyer for the current Star Wars Legacy of the Force novel series currently being published, installment 2 (of 9) released only a couple weeks ago. The flyer includes the following blurb:
“Something so major and incendiary will occur during the Legacy of the Force series that we cannot even mention what it is – except to say that it will be sure to earn significant fan attention.”
Okay, I see that, I think “they’re killing off another character from the original films,” which is what they did to kick off the previous major novel series for the franchise. (If you don’t already know which character was killed off, you can find out here.) I’m sure we’ll see a lot of the characters created for the novels die or (in an least one significant case already, go pretty irredeemably evil), but for “significant fan attention,” as the publisher puts it, that would imply, say, Han eating some bad blowfish and kicking off, or something.
I’m trying to think of what else would be a “major and incendiary” change…return of the previously-dead major character? Kryptonite lightsabers? Star Trek crossover? As a long-term Star Wars sucker, it’s got me curious.
(discussion of Jason “Robin II” Todd’s revamped origin leads into…)
M: “…So in the revamped origin, Jason was a street urchin that was trying to steal the tires off the Batmobile.”
D: “I believe it was explained later on that Batman forgot to set the protective system on the Batmobile that night, which allowed Jason the chance to grab the tires.”
M: “So the single most anal-retentive man on the planet forgot to turn on his car alarm? C’mon.”
D: “Hey, he forgot to put on his Bat-condom when he slept with Talia.”
M: “Well, that was probably his first time having sex, so Batman just didn’t know any better.”
I always consider it a victory when I can make Dor burst out laughing.
We also discussed at length Felicia Kyle, Catwoman’s sister, who, to the best of our knowledge, only appeared once and was never referred to again. (That appearance being a Batman/Swamp Thing crossover, by the way.)
Okay, first, a Violator medallion? I don’t care if you’re the biggest Spawn fan in the world, you gotta draw the line somewhere.
Second, I kinda wonder how many of these were actually sold. Were there 590 Spawn fans who had to have a precious metal medallion of Spawn’s arch-nemesis?
Third, how many of them have survived ’til now? I imagine any unsold stock (and probably a good number of the sold ones) have been melted down and reshaped into more appealing and/or useful forms, like silver bullets to take care of that pesky neighborhood werewolf problem.
Fourth…well, I don’t really have a fourth, beyond “a Violator medallion?” For 600 bucks? I think I’d rather drop six bills on a piece of gold and a couple of rubies not molded into an oddly-designed comic book supervillain, thank you…well, okay, maybe I’d wear some Lex Luthor-shaped bling, BUT THAT’S IT.
“WOLVERINE #1 of 4, Marvel, ’82, Frank Millar story/cover & art, Wolvy’s 1st solo book ! Near Mint++++ ! !!”
…which by itself is pretty typical, but has an opening minimum bid of $648,000.
So, what up with that? I figure it’s one of the following reasons:
1) Typo – opening bid was meant to be $6.48, and mistakes were made.
2) Prank – seller just thought it would be funny to list this for $648,000.
3) (The most likely reason) Attention-grabbing advertising – potential bidders see that minimum bid in the listings, checks out the auction to see what the heck’s going on (and thus are exposed to a blurb for the seller’s eBay store).
4. Done in the hopes that he’ll actually realize that price – hey, just gotta sell one.
The shipping is a fairly reasonable $4.25, however.
Things I’ve done that you haven’t: participated in a one-on-one play-by-e-mail Dungeons & Dragons adventure with Chris Sims as Dungeon Master, and me a player-character Gelatinous Cube:
Chris: “Okay, you’re in a tavern….”
Me: “I immediately sweep my gelatinous cube-shaped body through the tavern, absorbing everything I come across into my sticky body — packs, weapons, barmaids….”
I don’t know why, but I was on some Gelatinous Cube trip at the shop the other day…a strange throwback to the days when I actually sold the D&D stuff at the shop. I was wondering two things: 1) if a player character was polymorphed into a Gelatinous Cube, if he or she could continue playing as a Cube; and 2) has anyone made any kind of D&D-themed snack food designed around the Gelatinous Cube? You know, little squares of clear Jello with some of those candy skeletons, the kind that are always being sold around Halloween, embedded inside.
Chris says the answer to #1 is “yes,” though it probably depends on the DM. The answer to #2 is, um, I don’t know, as my Google-fu has failed me. Maybe one of you out there can clue me in.
EDIT: I’ve been informed that, by some odd coincidence, John Kovalic ran an Unspeakable Oaf panel today that involves a Gelatinous Cube.
Yeah, I know, Gelatinous Cube talk doesn’t really fit the usual comics theme here, but I had to get it out of my system. If you’re not satisfied with the quality of Progressive Ruin, please write for a refund.
“In some comics, the violence and blatant sexual advances rival that of infamous video games like Grand Theft Auto and the Resident Evil series. Some persue practices or customs that are tied to the occult, whereas others dabble in matters of society, like homosexuality, and drug abuse.
“The real question is, who do you want teaching your kids about those things, you or the comic book?
“True, not all comic books are bad, and some are quite benefitial, but constant vigilance is necessary to keep your kids from being expossed to these things.”
§ September 14th, 2006§ Filed under UncategorizedComments Off on I have a girlfriend, I swear.
So I was reading the latest Star Wars novel Bloodlines, written by Karen Traviss and the latest in the Legacy of the Force sequence of books. According to the timeline in the front of the book (and in the front of every Star Wars book), this particular installment takes place 40 years after the original Star Wars film, AKA “Episode IV” AKA “A New Hope.” Which means, of course, all the main characters (the ones that are still alive, that is) are in their 60s and 70s.
But that’s not exactly what I’m here to talk about. There’s a scene, very early in the novel, where a 71-year-old Boba Fett is paying a visit to his doctor:
“Dr. Beluine was one of only a handful who had ever seen him without [his Mandalorian helmet]. Doctors could handle disfigurement a great deal better than most.”
Okay, I realize the idea of an elderly Star Wars character visiting his doctor brings to mind, say, Han Solo waiting in line to pick up his medicine, or Luke receiving his Social Security benefits, and other exciting Star Wars action. Anyway, part of Boba’s initial appeal for the Star Wars fans, aside from being taken out by a blind guy and screaming like a little girl, was his sense of mystery. What did he look like under that mask?
Well, after Episode II, now we know. Since young Boba is a clone of his father, Jango Fett, and we’ve seen Jango maskless in that film (and you can see him maskless here, if you scroll down a bit), we can assume an adult Boba would look more or less like Jango. So now, the “mystery” aspect of Boba had more or less been done away with.
Over the years, as Boba had appeared in the “Expanded Universe” novels, the occasional reference had been made to his maskless visage being ugly, or unappealing, or…well, I forget the exact wording, but I don’t recall him ever being explicitly described as “disfigured” until this novel. (Perhaps someone with a better memory for the books recalls otherwise.) Then again, the novels were on their way to creating a much different backstory for Boba that were contradicted by the events in the flims, but that’s yet another issue.
Anyhoo, the above passage from the new Star Wars book is a fairly transparent attempt at reestablishing the mystery of Boba’s appearance. Boba Fett is now the Dr. Doom of the Star Wars universe, with his helmet now hiding some sort of hideous and unknown disfigurement.
At least until Lucasfilm licenses some kind of officially-sanctioned bust of Boba with a removable helmet, revealing his true appearance, much like what Marvel did with Doom.
Employee Aaron reports that he had a customer on Monday look at the Pride of Baghdad cover feature on the Comic Shop News newsletter, and declare it “obviously pro-Iraqi propaganda.”
Well, obviously.
Due to Marvel’s across-the-board postponement of their books due to the Civil War delay, our invoice totals have been pretty low the last few weeks…allowing me to make some pretty massive reorders without totally busting our budget. But I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, that looming threat of a coming onslaught of new Civil War tie-ins, arriving two or three dozen per week. Okay, it may not be quite that dire, but I am expecting a bunch of books to be suddenly dumped on us once the Civil War gears are back in motion.
Talent #3 – Lots of ‘splaining going on in this issue, as our hero has his particular circumstance — able to access the abilities of victims of an air crash only he survived, in order to complete their unfinished business — explained more or less as plainly as I’ve explained here; we learn a little more about what the folks pursuing Nick are up to; and we find out just why that plane crashed. It’s nice that readers aren’t continually strung along, but instead are thrown a bone once in a while to give us the feeling of forward movement, that the story is working toward something rather than just running in place with a “avenged dead soul” every issue. The central conceit of the book is a strong one, kind of a reverse Deadman, and makes for good ‘n’ fun reading.
“[Marvel] intends to release a live-action version of ‘The Avengers’ — a team dubbed as ‘Earth’s mightiest heroes.'”
[…]
“Executives spoke briefly about their ‘Avengers’ plan Wednesday during a presentation to Wall Street analysts at the Merrill Lynch Media & Entertainment Conference in Pasadena.
“The comic book ‘The Avengers’ began as a team consisting of superheroes Thor, Ant-Man, Wasp, Iron Man and Hulk. Later, Captain America and a host of others joined. Executives didn’t say exactly which of Marvel’s superheroes would be depicted in ‘The Avengers’ movie.”
Dear God: please let there be a live-action Ant-Man in this movie. Thank you, Mike.
Me: “Hey, Corey, did you order this Green Lantern baseball cap?”
