“Roy Thomas resigned his editorial post at Marvel Comics as of August 13. He will be staying on as free-lance writer of CONAN, etc. Reasons for his resignation were not given but it’s known that it was due to a disagreement.”
Heath Ledger thinks superhero movies are…well, see for yourself:
“‘I actually hate comic book movies, like fucking hate them, they just bore me shitless and they’re just dumb,’ Ledger told press at the Toronto Film Festival.”
I know he follows this up with good words about Batman Begins and why that particular film made him want to be in a superhero film his own self, but still…I wonder how the studio feels about this?
Anyway, in other news:
Chris “Lefty” Brown wants to know:
“How easy would it be to exert our collective bloggin power (and some comic convention booze) to get Mike Sterling to make an appearance in a Swamp Thing comic book? We must work on this.”
…I’ll just settle for writing Swamp Thing…that Swampy/Legion of Super-Heroes team-up must happen.
Steven thinks more superheroes should die, give more message boarders heart palpitations.
Speaking of “dead” heroes, Loren has issues with Skeets just happening to locate a direct-line ancestor of Booster Gold in the 21st century.
When Fangirls Attack links to a particular person’s weblog…linkee unclear on concept of “the internet.”
Greg at Comics Should Be Good explains why you should own Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol run. And he’s right…you should own it. And it’s coming out in that convenient trade paperback form which is popular with the kids these days, so you have no excuse not to own it.
Not really anything to do with comics, but Bill ranks his five favorite sandwiches, complete with a bonus “What’s Distracting Patricia” (see also).
Eddie returns with a tale of a nice yard sale find. I never find cool stuff like this…all the yard sales I see have the same selection of broken blenders, curling irons, and old shoes. No one around here reads, apparently.
Alan reviews the Harvey Pekar-edited The Best American Comics 2006. Somewhere, someone is wondering why Kabuki wasn’t in this book.
BLUE DEVIL TAROT CARD. Hey, why not?
In case you haven’t noticed, Tom Peyer has teamed up with some of his super-pals, and what was once the totally awesome Superfrankenstein is now the totally awesome-er Superfrankenstein and the Monster Force, complete with Jamie Delano, Stuart Moore, Mark Waid, and one or two comments section trolls that everyone enjoys picking on and laughing at.
This Is Pop Culture is always a nice round-up of vintage toys, ads, comics, and TV shows, along with current news regarding same. Pay a visit, won’t you?
Apparently I’m distracting Patricia.
And I’m linking to pal Dorian’s post in direct defiance of his draconian linking policy. So take that, you!
Just in case you were wondering, no, I wasn’t working up to any kind of “conclusion” or making a “point” with all my Wolverine posts from the last week (like I did with “Bat-Week” a few months ago). No, sometimes, just sometimes, a boy’s gotta post about Wolverine.
And if people tell me to stop doing it…that makes me do it some more, out of spite. So take that, you.
In other news:
Buffy creator Joss Whedon takes over Marvel’s Runaways – book presumably moves to quarterly schedule.
We’ve suddenly had a small bump in interest in Runaways, with at least one person saying all the news about the original creative team leaving got him to try the book out. You know, in the “hey, everybody’s lamenting their loss, they must have been doing some good work” sort of way, not in the “finally, they’re off the book, I can read it” way.
And, my smart-aleckiness aside, I am curious as to how Whedon’s addition to the title will affect sales. As it stands now, despite the online good word-of-mouth, the comic is, at least for us, a low-to-mid-range seller. It’s solid and consistent, more than New Excalibur, less than Hulk.
The first Whedon issue (and probably the next couple) will almost certainly be ordered in huge numbers…his Astonishing X-Men has been a success, outselling the other regular monthly X-books, and I’m sure most retailers will expect some of those sales to translate to this new title. However, Runaways isn’t an X-book, and it doesn’t have characters people know from movies, so I imagine sales on Whedon’s Runaways will probably eventually settle at “better than it was selling before, but not selling as well as people are probably expecting.” Yeah, I know, that’s some prediction.
Basically, I’m saying this is going to be a tricky one to order. Hmmmm…there’s some kind of algebraic equation there, somewhere, with “number of regular Runaways readers” plus “number of sales of Astonishing X-Men over sales of Uncanny X-Men and X-Men” minus “people reading Astonishing X-Men because of Whedon who aren’t interested in Runaways” plus “potential number of people buying two to five copies of Whedon’s first issue for investment purposes” plus “number of extra copies Marvel is going to coerce us into buying in order to obtain the inevitable limited variant incentive covers” minus “people who drop the book due to creative team change….”
Isn’t comic ordering fun?
Wolverine’s Top Ten Villains – “#11 – Fatty foods.”
Three iconic images of Wolverine, and one image of Wolvie fighting Darth Maul.
If you’re lucky, you can get this guy to appear at your party or other special event. Here are a bunch of other folks you can get as well. (I imagine the person playing Elektra just kinda hangs around the office a lot, reading the paper and waiting for the phone to ring.)
Custom full-face Wolverine helmet. Holy Hannah.
Some folks don’t like Wolvie: Sequart, Title Undetermined, Howling Curmudgeons (halfway down page).
“Is Wolverine in too many books?”
“yea, marvel seems to be allowing wolvie to be in almost every book, i dont really think they understand what they are doin got the poor guy, he never gets any sleep, and they put him back in the yellow spandex, and he has to sit and watch an australian play him on the big screen…”
“COMPRISONS [sic] BETWEEN WOLVERINE AND BENJAMIN” – “Wolverine has claws, Benjamin has no claws and clips his finger nails regularly.”
Courage and possibilities, friends, courage and possibilities.
Wolvie Amiga 500-style.
“The Wolverine and Jubilee Page is a fansite dedicated to one of the most interesting, fantastic, comic book duos around. Wolverine and Jubilee have been partners for years, and the great stories that comic book writers have spun about them continue to create and inspire devoted fans. So, welcome to the site! Batman and Robin ain’t got nuthin’ on these two!” The webmaster of this page also wrote an honest-to-goodness X-Men novel, so good on her.
Custom cutie Wolvie super-deformed bunny thing.
My personal pick for the best live-action Wolverine ever. (Yeah, it’s a self-link, you’ll live.)
Chris takes down Marvel Team-Up #117 (featuring Wolverine and Spider-Man), beats it mercilessly, and dangles a loogie in its face.
A great pic of Wolvie from Outcast Studios.
Urban dictionary definitions of “Wolvie.” To wit: “A useful pet name for your boyfriend if he likes to emulate a certain marvel superhero.”
Wolverine and Rogue relationshippers site – I like the drinking game.
Superman teams with Wolvie, Superman is Wolvie.
A page of Wolvie illos with a weird 3-D applet/Javascript/whatever cube thingie floating at the top of the page, there.
Some neat CG renders of our favorite Canadian mutant.
Berserker Wolverine action figure review. Lots of other Wolvie action figure reviews on this site as well.
I don’t know what’s going on here, but that’s a great image of Wolvie.
“As many of you know, Nate decided to be Wolverine for Halloween…” The guy built himself retractable claws for his costume…enjoy the gallery of the costume in progress, the finished product, and his triumphant drunkenness at the Halloween party that followed. VICTORY IS HIS.
“Snake Eyes vs. Wolverine. Who wins?”
“I don’t care how hyped up SE is, there is no way he could even come near Wolverine. SE would never be able to sneak up on him, because Wolvy can smell his stench from a mile away, and the whole adamantium skeleton thing, the healing factor, and the fact that he’s an X-Man, SE should just kill himself.”
Wolviex.com – Flash interface, sound, pics, and and other Wolvie stuff.
YTMND ahoy – Wolvie’s one weakness, Wolverine says (not safe for work, kinda dumb, but made me laugh), Wolverine is a bad influence, Emo Wolverine, Wolverine really needs a beer, Wolverine works it, and Wolverine rules.
YouTube ahoy – Wolverine versus Bart, Wolvie’s animated origin, Wolverine versus Godzilla, “Wolverine Dance,” stop-motion Wolverine versus Kirk(?), stop-motion Wolverine versus Spider-Man, and Wolverine getting dressed:
So, a quick tabulation of the results of this vote, and the wiener winner is…KOOL-AID MAN, by a long chalk. In fact, the battle I see in my head goes something like how P-TOR described it. And it goes on in my head ALL THE TIME.
And of course, the irony is that someday, some other weblogger is going to come along and quote all of our comments on his/her weblog to poke fun at us in a “turnabout is fair play” kinda deal.
Okay, a couple things that need to be addressed:
As I’m sure you’ve probably heard by now, cartoonist Lea Hernandez has lost most of her home, her belongings, and, most tragically, her pets in a fire…Gail Simone has details and how you can donate via PayPal if you are able. Hernandez is keeping everybody updated on her weblog, so check there for the latest news.
Secondly, pal Nat e-mailed me earlier in the week to let me know that Licensable Bear™ has something he needs to tell us all…here’s the Flash version, and here is the YouTube version:
And, in the news, “Batwoman is Back!”…apparently the writer thinks the title of the comic she’s reading is “Batwoman Begins” (which is actually just the blurb on that cover of 52):
“Personally, there was little in this comic book story to make me want to read another issue of the new Batwoman; although it is heartening to see the creation of new women superheroes, with Batwoman being one of them. As mostly males buy comic books, it will be interesting to see if Batwoman survives in the marketplace, and who exactly will be reading it.
“The depiction of Batwoman as a lesbian does speak to growing acceptance of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people as heroes now appearing in films and television shows as well as in comic books.
“Batwoman Begins! remains a largely male creation, however. The people responsible for the new Batwoman are listed as Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Word with art by Joe Bennett, Todd Nauck, Jack Jadson, Alex Sinclair, Nick Napolitano and Marlo Alquiza.”
And if I were this store, I don’t know if I would have been 100% thrilled with this “plug:”
“Male fantasy still trumps feminist sensibilities in this collector’s comic book available at Earth Prime Comics on Church Street in Burlington.”
So c’mon in, new female readers!
I know, I know…there’s only one reason you all read this website, and that’s for WOLVERINE, WOLVERINE, WOLVERINE. Far be it from me to disappoint…here is a small, and nowhere nearly complete selection of Wolverine parody characters:
From the early issues of Marvel’s humor title What The–?! comes Wulvoream, as drawn by Hilary Barta:
Barta was always a welcome presence in the What The–?! title, bringing an appealing comedic style to the proceedings.
Peter David concluded his Wolvie story “Gone Fishin'” with the introduction of Wolverina:
This one-shot gag ended up becoming a recurring one, as she popped up, if memory serves, a few more times in the series (here’s at least one example). Later, of course, the character entered regular continuity (as Peter David had previously noted).
I’ve featured Rumbo of Power Pachyderms before, but here he is again:
Oh, my. Points, at least, for not giving the character a name that plays on “Wolverine.” And yes, those are metal retractable tusk knives. Enjoy, won’t you?
I knew there was an Alf parody of Wolverine (from issue #22 of his series):
…but I’m kinda disappointed that it’s not one that has claws coming out of the back of Alf’s furry paws. Apparently he has cleats instead. (That’s “Brogue” flying behind him, in case you’re wondering.)
And, perhaps, the most famous of the Wolverine parodies…Dave Sim’s Wolveroach:
Famous primarily because Sim featured his parody on three consecutive covers of Cerebus (here’s one of them) and Marvel’s lawyers, who didn’t much like the fact that you couldn’t really tell the parody from the real thing, ended up sending Sim a nastygram abut it. The only real physical difference is the little “dealy boppers” at the tips of his mask, which are hardly obvious.
Any other good’uns I’m missing? I think there’s one in Marshal Law Takes Manhattan — I forgot to retrieve my copy from the vast Mikester archives to check — and one in Megaton Man (“Wooverine,” I believe). I also forgot to pull my copies of that series out of the archives.
Ah, well, I can always cover them on the site tomorrow.
VS. 
“I’m a creature of the wild. I hate cities…hate civilization, with all its idiot rules. Gimme the free, open, elemental spaces of my mountains…where a man holds his fate in his own hands, no lies there, no deception, no compromise.”
–from Kitty Pryde & Wolverine #3 (Jan. 1985)
So pal JP was asking me about the whole “One Year Later” thing at DC, and I explained to him that following the events of the Infinite Crisis crossover, the DC universe continuity jumped ahead a year and during that time, Superman had no powers, Batman and his Bat-pals wents on a trip around the world, and….
Pal JP then jumped in with the greatest idea ever.
Remember those Dennis the Menace travelogue comics? You know, like Dennis the Menace in Mexico or Dennis in Hawaii? How ’bout a bunch of Batman specials filling in that missing year, with Batman in Australia or Batman in Germany or Batman in France? “You know, Normandy really makes you think, doesn’t it, Robin?”
Because, honestly, if it’s one thing we need, it’s more Batman mini-series and one-shots.
“I’m an X-Man. Mutants like me, band of super heroes, good people, idealists, dreamers — forever looking for the best in others. With them, killing is a last resort. With me, it’s second nature. I take the world as it is, an’ give better than I get. Come at me with a sword. I’ll meet you with a sword. You want mercy. Show a little first.”
–from Wolverine #1 (Nov. 1988)
A few of the goodies we received for new comics day:
Totally Spies #2: I Hate the 80s! – Okay, I’m already feeling my age a bit as it is. But not only is it bad enough that the villain of the book is using a “retro-gun” (or something like it) to turn back time (and fashions) to the 1980s, but one of the characters says this:
“Who would want to go back to the 80s? That was, like, 100 years ago!”
AAAAUUGH.
Hero Squared #3 – I think what I like most about this series is its poking holes in the conventions of the genre without going out of its way to tell you that it’s “deconstructing” the superhero. It simply pits the normal non-super Milo versus his superheroic alternate-Earth counterpart and lets the conflict between their perspectives arise naturally. Which isn’t to say that it’s not a fun superhero book…okay, this issue is mostly characters talking to each other and getting on each other’s nerves (with “more hitting” promised in the next issue), but the book’s dialogue is its real strength and a pleasure to read. As always, recommended.
All-New Atom #3 – Gail Simone is now my new Favorite Person, simply for finding a way to sneak Swamp Thing back into the regular DC universe (as I had noted about the last issue), giving him a brief, shadowed cameo in this very issue. He sorta, kinda appears later in the ish as well, in a way that I won’t spoil here. So, well done, Gail Simone…you’re swell in my book.
Fred Perry’s S-Guild #1 – I don’t know what happened here, if they assembled the book before the ink was dry or what, but in all our copies the edges of all the pages were, um, stuck together. They pulled apart with only minor effort (and some very light discoloring on the paper that, hopefully, won’t bother anyone), but still, that was a little annoying.
Life and Times of Uncle Scrooge McDuck Companion trade – I sold tons of the original Life and Times volume, and I expect this new book, featuring the Don Rosa stories that tied into his biography of Scrooge, to do just as well. In fact, we nearly sold through what we did get in.
Making Comics trade – I shouldn’t need to tell you about Scott McCloud’s new book…if you have any interest in the medium, whether you intend on creating, selling, or just plain reading funnybooks, you need to give this book a glance. I just got my copy today, and no, I haven’t read it, but his previous books (Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics) are essential reading, and I can’t imagine this new book will be any different. (And he’s touring the fifty states in promotion of this tome, and you can keep up with his adventures right here.)
“Long before I hear his approach, the wind carries the smell of him. Him…and the blood of his prey. He’s a rogue. A killer. So am I. And tonight…the need is on us both. And tonight…my need, like my hunger, is stronger.”
–from Wolverine #17 (Nov. 1989)
We also got this book in today…I wasn’t planning on buying it, but, well…it’s not just a Creature from the Black Lagoon original novel…it’s a time travel Creature from the Black Lagoon original novel. This tickles the same spot in my brain that the Hex series did…taking some old comic, movie, book, what have you, and doing completely inappropriate things to it. In this case, “mix[ing] the best elements of 1950s Cold War science fiction” — in other words, a movie about a guy in a rubber suit menacing girls in swimsuits — “with today’s cutting-edge cyberpunk.”
No, honest, that’s what it says on the back cover. Here, read it yourself. Fantastic.
GASP! It’s…the cutest l’il Wolverine ever:
“AFTER FINISHING THE SKETCH, CHRIS SAID, ‘PEOPLE ARE GOING TO THINK THIS IS BAT-MAN!’ SO HE DREW THE BAT EMBLEM WITH A LINE THRU IT AND THAN HANDED ME THE DRAWING.’THAT SHOULD CLARIFY THINGS,’HE SAID WITH A SMILE.’
This next seller says “people won’t believe their eyes when they see you in this costume and you feel like your the real deal” — and I have to say that I indeed do not believe my eyes:
Let’s look at it in action:
“The Wolverine” is a swinging Capricorn, standing 5′ 3″ (prompting one commenter to lament “How is Wolverine only 5″3? That just ruins all of my sex fantasies of him”). He’d like to meet “anybody who loves Wolverine.”
This Wolverine‘s general interests include “tearin apart that bub sabertooth.” What kind of music does he like? “I dont get much time for music.” How ’bout TV? “TV is for the weak.” As for whom he’d like to meet: “Jean Grey.” Aren’t you on the same team as her?
This Wolverine has lots of scantily-clad lady friends. Why, hello there, Somaya Reece.
“Logan_wolverine” has as his general interests “eating meat, drinking, smoking, riding harleys, wearing leather jackets, saying ‘bub,’ going into berserker rages.” His personal heroes? “i AM a hero. but johnny cash, clint eastwood, and glenn danzig are all pretty badass guys.” Fair enough. He’d also like to meet “the people in charge of the weapon X program, to tear them several new assholes each,” and who could blame him?
This Wolverine is interested in “intercontinetal communication.” And porn. He’s friends with Quicksilver (who seems to have an ongoing thing with the Flash in his comments section, there).
This Wolverine earns between $150,000 to $250,000 a year. Being an X-Man is a good gig, apparently, unless he’s pulling that down from his Avengers job. His interest is solely “killing,” while his favorite TV show is “CSI.” And he likes ’80s music.
Here’s a Wolverine who feels quite strongly about the events in the Civil War crossover: “”Sign the Registration? Over my dead body… the Government is F***ed!” His profile includes a looooong personal history, and he’d also like to meet Jean Grey. Is “meet” some kind of euphemism?
This Wolverine is a Korn fan, judging by the embedded music video that automatically starts playing. He’s also a little unclear on the concept of “non-text obscuring background image.” Let him tell you a little bit about himself:
“i dont remember much i am what they would call a romer or a nomad all i know is that i have these claws made from a metal called antamantium its harder than any other metal and can not be broke i also heal at a rate the is 50xs faster than a human i have a verry big chip on my sholder keep it there and your in a good day but knock it off and its to the hospital for you”
This Wolverine is an anime fan, apparently, as he belongs to the Love Hina and Vegeta’s Throne Myspace groups. His bio, which relates his long life and struggles to learn more about his past, concludes “Now is a new day and I am taking it one step at a time. I still long to learn the truth of my past, maybe this Myspace can finally help me.” I hope so, too, Wolvie.
This Wolverine‘s headline is “oh, no, I broke a nail.” Well, I thought it was funny.
Here’s a Wolverine that laughs, laughs at you weaklings and your “paragraphs.” Lots of big ol’ images of the Hugh Jackman Wolvie from the movies, though.
I have a hard time believing that one of Wolverine‘s favorite movies is From Justin to Kelly. I mean, c’mon. His hometown? “I live whereever I breath.” Well said. He’d like to meet “that guy who played me in the xmen movies….cuz he sucked and i want to beat him up.”
The “about me” for this Wolverine is sorta funny in its “look how badass I am!” forced crudity…if you can read it over that background, that is. And looking at his friends…there sure are a lot of superheroes on Myspace, aren’t there?
Ah, another Myspace designed by the blind. He’d like to meet fellow X-Men…yeah, that’s stretching your boundaries.
Wolverine wants you to know “just because I rock doesnt mean I am made of stone.” He also says “I am really an uptight guy and can sometimes come off as an asshole. […] I am in love with a great girl, her name is Jean Grey, but she doesnt realize how much she loves me yet because of faggot cyclops.” Gee, why would anyone think you’re an asshole?
EXTREME WOLVERINE‘s bio includes stuff from that Earth-X mini-series. You’re mixing continuities! DON’T CROSS THE STREAMS! His occupation? “Just call me the guy that saves you.”
This Wolverine‘s interests include “fighting, slashing, stabing, anything that involves me hurting someone! I also injoy taking scotts bike and wasting the gas in it! Oh the best part is stealing the x-jet and finding the best way to crash it! Rogue will fix it!”
The loneliest Wolverine of them all. Only one friend, and it’s Myspace founder Tom. Poor guy.
“Godzilla vs wolverine? can he stop the lizard?”
“…Godzilla’s thermonuclear breath would distinegrate right through doomsday, that includes superman, Superman can get cut, And I know, if he was hit by breath that has a heat of way over the suns heat, he would destroy all. Im sorry, None of the super-heroes could really mess with him. Theres probably three heroes who could beat him. overall, godzilla… its… HES A FREAKIN HUGE GIANT 25,000 TON LIZARD WITH SUPER HEAT BREATHE, RADIATION SUPER BREATH, AND HE HAS THE POWER OF A NUCLEAR A BOMB.
His G-cells would heal him quicker than any hero ive ever heard of, and… Gahhh… He just… Hes impossible to beat, even by other giant monsters.
If you people know ANYTHING or have seen at least 4 giant monster toho movies, You all would see just how powerful kaiju monsters are.”“i seemeed to remember the punisher killing wolverines useing an electrical charge that fried him in ‘ the punshiser kills the marvel universe’ so i think godzilla is going to have no trouble killing him”
“He’d be like a 7 foot (arms up) tack in Godzilla’s foot. Now that’s a pain that makes one truely lose.”
“This is a retarded thread. Against the real Godzilla the entire Xmen roster would be dead. You even knew this when you made the thread, so what was the point?”
“Why would Godzilla even notice a single human? He wouldn’t; it would be simple for Logan to climb up him enter his ear mess shit up. Also Colossus is stronger then Godzilla.”
“I’d like to see Colossus pick up a Kaiju by the tail and slam the Kaiju repeatedly into the ground before hammer throwing it away. Hell, I doubt Colossus could even bench Showa Baragon.”
“NO. First of all, cutting into Godzilla’s INNER EAR to get to his brain might get his attention. Second, even if Wolverine could get in, Godzilla could regenerate any damage he would do. THIRD, Colossus is nowhere near as strong as Godzilla. The giant lizard knocks over sky scrapers on ACCIDENT, there is no way Colossus is even budging him.”
“yeah big G is far above level 100 class strength. and Godzilla-like monsters account for nothing. Godzilla fights and kills Godzilla-like monsters easily all the friggin time. That’s like saying that a vampire hunter can take down dracula with ease because he does it to other vampires all the time,,,,,it holds no water.”
“I wonder how high Godzilla’s body heat is. To be that big, heavy, and radioactive, Godzilla’s insides must be a very volatile place. Would Logan even want to go inside Godzilla?”
“This is so stupid Godzilla would just use fire breath and blast wolvi into nothingness his claws could even break godzilla’s skin. And no kids collosus in nowere near as strong as Godzilla the big green guy knocks over building and navy ships on accident”
“He can self heal, but not fast enough from the damage Godzilla can do to him. Fire breath (whether it was radioactive or not) would fry him to his adamantium bones a la Days of Futures Past, or he can get stomped on, indestructable skeleton or not, he ain’t surviving that much pressure. Or, he could just get punted cross-country.”
“Is this a joke? In Final Wars godzilla killed another Giant monster, called Gigan, with one super blast he blew apart his head.
Thats a head that probably has Hyde (or hide, whatever) on it, about as tough as admantium skin.”“why did you just make the assumption that now Godzilla’s enemies have skin tougher than adamantium?”
“Because, Gigan is a alien from deep space, and it was said in Final Wars ‘These monsters have unbreachable skin'”
“Wolvey wins easyyy with prep ti….wait thats Batman never mind.”
“godzilla beats the xmen? that’s stupid. The most i can say on this subject is wolverine has taken down dinosaurs like a t-rex but i do know that’s not on godzillas level.”
“How long are Logan’s claws? he could ram those little things in Godzilla as hard as he possibly can, and it’s barely going to go through the thickness of his scales. A Hippopotamus has about 3 inches of skin and 3 of fat…can you imagine how thick Godzilla’s scales are? True he is a reptile, and scales of reptiles the same size as mammals are only barely thicker, but Godzilla is larger than any living animal to compare him to. […] This fight would end without Godzilla even knowing it began.”
And then the real shocker:
“ANOTHER Godzilla vs Wolverine thread?And it’s not merged or closed?”
This has been discussed before?
And I missed it?
