Just another manic Monday tricky Tuesday.
Well, for those of you keeping up with STERLING BACK WATCH 2007, you’ll be pleased to know that, aside from some minor soreness, I seem to be recovering quite nicely from my injury and now I’m able to do things like sit, walk, put on socks in less than, oh, say, ten minutes’ time…things like that.
Some minor weblog business: I finally got around to having some kind of indicator for newly-added links in the sidebar. I thought about doing what pal Dorian did, and just having a separate “Latest Links” section, but I think coloring the new links red is…well, probably a bit obnoxious, but they certainly stand out, don’t they? I may have to reconsider the color.
Plus, I’m going to plug them here, too: first we have Bahlactus, as immortalized in The Rack; customer Weshoyot, who’s been doing some funnybook work for Archaic Comics, among others (and drew a way cool Hellboy sketch for Employee Aaron); and Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery, which I plugged a few days ago, and has now moved on to reviewing Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes. Right on.
Another new link in that sidebar is to BeaucoupKevin’s new forum. Yes, Kevin Church is moderating a new comics forum, the poor, poor bastard. He’s a mean drunk, and he’ll rule this forum with an iron fist (the hand not holding the shot glass), so that gave me the confidence to register. Because, you know, I just don’t get to talk about comics enough.
So people do like the Pizzazz judging by reaction to my post from Saturday. I bought the mag off the newsstands…actually, at the local grocery store…for quite a while before breaking down and springing for the subscription. However, like commenter Mike, I subscribed just in time for the mag to get cancelled, and I was given the option to have the rest of the sub filled with another Marvel comic (Amazing Spider-Man in my case: issues 197-205, if I recall correctly).
I caught on to Pizzazz very early on, but I don’t remember ever seeing any of the “Dream Dimension” articles promised in the subscription ad. It’s possible they were in issues prior to my discovering the magazine, or I just don’t recall them, but like most of the other commenters, I would love to have seen them. It’d be like a proto-Roarin’ Rick’s Rare Bit Fiends, or, more accurately, a proto-Slow Wave. I’m picturing Sal Buscema drawing a reader-submitted dream strip about, say, missing a certain class for most of the school year, and finally showing up on the day of the final. Or a John Romita-drawn dream of the reader falling naked into school with his mother, while eating a banana. That sort of thing.
I do like the use of the phrases “Dynamite comics!” and Mad humor!” in that subscription ad…not so subtle references to competing magazines, I’m thinking. I can verify, however, that the magazines were indeed “mailed flat!” At least, until they were rolled up and shoved into our mailbox.
Alas, I no longer have any of my copies in the Vast Mikester Comic Archives, having long since read my copies to pieces. And even my place of employment is bereft of Pizzazz-ery. Which is probably just as well…I loved these mags as a kid, and I just as soon would keep those fond memories rather than look at them today and think “Wow…I actually liked this?”
However, I was able to find this scan online, featuring what may very well be one of my favorite magazine cover gags of all time:
This always, always, gets a laugh out of me. The sheer audacity….
So long, Marshall.
